Hardiness zone map for Europe included, with explanation on previous page. Identification manual for ornamental plants cultivated throughout the world. Comprehensive keys are provided at the family, genus, and species levels.

The European Garden Flora is the definitive manual for the accurate identification of cultivated ornamental flowering plants. Designed to meet the highest scientific standards, the vocabulary has nevertheless been kept as uncomplicated as possible so that the work is fully accessible to the informed gardener as well as to the professional botanist. This new edition has been thoroughly reorganised and revised, bringing it into line with modern taxonomic knowledge. Although European in name, the Flora covers plants cultivated in most areas of the United States and Canada as well as in non-tropical parts of Asia and Australasia. Volume 1 contains accounts of all the Monocotyledons, which includes those groups known informally as the 'petaloid monocotyledons' (the Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae in the first edition, divided here among 17 families), the grasses and sedges (Gramineae and Cyperaceae), the aroids (Araceae) and the large and diverse Orchidaceae.

The rich and often bizarre variety of form exhibited by orchids has long provided a fascination for amateur and professional botanists alike. Once seen as a hobby exclusively for the rich, the cultivation of orchids is now widespread and the need for an accurate and simple guide to the identification of species in cultivation has become apparent. This book aims to fulfill that need by providing botanically correct, yet easily accessible information about this unique and exceptionally diverse group of plants. The main part of the book is based on the text of the family Orchidaceae published in the second volume of The European Garden Flora, with the information fully updated and displayed in a revised format. Simple keys to the genera and to the species allow access to descriptions of 900 individual species which also include references to published illustrations and other useful information. Numerous line drawings of diagnostic features help to make the keys and descriptions easy to understand and use. A brief introduction covers the structural features of orchids important in identification, and gives some information on cultivation and a list of general references.

This book represents the most comprehensive compilation of data on threatened vascular plants ever published. It includes the names of some 33,000 plant species determined to be rare or threatened on a global scale. Conservation assessments were provided by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the National Botanical Institute (South Africa), Environment Australia, and CSIRO, The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, together with hundreds of botanic gardens and botanists throughout the world. The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the New York Botanical Garden have made major in-kind contributions.The result of 20 years work by botanists and conservationists around the world, it is intended as a conservation tool, a provider of baseline information to measure conservation progress and as a primary source of data on plant species. Most importantly, however, it provides the building blocks on which to base a worldwide effort to conserve plant species.

Enjoy the beauty and mystique of tropical orchids in your own home with this introductory guide to growing orchids. Even if you've never grown anything before, you can have success with these gorgeous plants by following these tips on: watering, repotting, propagation methods, fertilization, and protection against common parasites and diseases.

"Covers cultivation methods including potting material, fertilisers, propagation and the use of glass-house. Details of pests and diseases and how to eradicate them. Stories of some of the more prominent nurseries and the adventures of their field staff, particularly in South America in the late 1800's and early 1900's"--Back cover

This work follows on from the 1995 publication on European orchids. The atlas is now completed with a second part, containing data on the pollination of orchids of the continents of America, Asia, Africa (including Madagascar) and Australia (including New Zealand).;The first part of the book is adapted from the general account of the previous publication and is extended with chapters on taxonomy and pollinators. The general account deals with such things as the history, evolution, morphology, chemistry and genetics of orchid pollination. The second part gives a systematic account for each continent of all well known details. The text is designed to have relevance for orchid lovers whether professional or amateur.