Bøger udgivet af Missouri Botanical Garden Press

An exploration of the Robinson Crusoe Islands, a national park of Chile located more than four hundred miles west of the South American continent. The classic novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was based on the true adventures of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who lived isolated in these islands from 1704 to 1709. There exist unique flowering plants and ferns that stimulate scientific questions: How and when did these plants arrive in the archipelago? What processes of evolution occurred after they colonized? Botanists on twelve expeditions over forty years from Ohio State University, University of Concepción, University of Vienna, and other institutions have revealed secrets of this unique plant world through numerous scientific publications. Isolated Wonder explains clearly and honestly the challenges of doing fieldwork on these islands, the excitements, the disappointments, and how research can dramatically impact personal lives, and vice versa. This book provides informative and entertaining insights into what happens on botanical expeditions in an isolated region of the world.

Renowned for its biological and cultural diversity as well as its beauty, the Tibetan sacred mountain Khawa Karpo supports one of the most exceptional areas of plant and animal diversity in the world. This book details conservation programs focused on Tibetan traditional knowledge of ethnobotany, ecology, and natural resource management as well as conservation biology and planning to create a Tibetan community-centered approach to conservation. It includes spectacular photographs, an inside look at Tibetans views on their changing landscape, the first comprehensive checklist of plants, and a checklist of animals.

This book's emphasis is the gathering of microscopic data from plant tissues in ways that do not require elaborate and dedicated equipment. The approximately 200 formulas or procedures in this book are gathered from numerous and scattered resources. While some techniques would benefit from access to a microtome, oven, hood, or warming tray, many data yielding preparations can be made with nothing more elaborate than a desk top, a razor blade, and some miscellaneous supplies. Access to a clinical or research grade microscope is assumed. The techniques will be of use to teachers at the college or secondary school levels, as well as anyone with a background in plant structure.

Steyermark's Flora of Missouri is intended to serve as an encyclopedic reference tool for both professionals in biology and related fields and for the large group of dedicated amateur botanists and naturalists who have created the unique environment in which conservation, natural history, and other outdoor activities thrive and are supported in the state. This volume contains treatments of 1,235 taxa, including 1,031 species and 124 hybrids in the alphabetical sequence of dicot families Fabaceae through Zygophyllaceae.

This massive contribution to floristic knowledge of western North America describes the 2,303 species, subspecies, and varieties of vascular plants currently known to grow spontaneously in the drainage basin of the San Juan River, a major tributary of the Colorado River. It includes parts of four states in the southwestern United States (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah), one of the regions of North America with the highest rate of plant endemicity. While rich in natural beauty and resources, the Four Corners region faces rapid development and population growth resulting in extensive habitat fragmentation and loss, erosion, and overuse. The need for a comprehensive flora of the region has never been more urgent.

Ireland's Generous Nature is the first ever comprehensive account of the historical and present-day uses of wild plant species in Ireland. It records a wealth of traditional knowledge about Irish plant use, knowledge that has been disappearing fast. More than 1500 wild plants are detailed in a systematic list, which gives both their Irish and English names. Many historical references have been included from a wide range of Irish literature. This lively and scholarly book shows how plants have been used in virtually every aspect of human life in Ireland: food, clothes, medicine, construction, drinks, veterinary medicine, human health and beauty, and even death.

The life of William G. D'Arcy was unusual in many respects. His research career as a systematic botanist would be considered exceptionally productive even if begun in his twenties, rather than at age 41. In his early career he worked as an economist, and then as an entrepreneur in the British West Indies. In that beautiful locale, a fascination with the local flora gradually attracted more and more of his energy. Deciding on a career change, D'Arcy pursued master's (University of Florida) and doctoral (Washington University) degrees. He was appointed by the Missouri Botanical Garden to organize the completion of the multi-volume Flora of Panama project and simultaneously developed the first computerized database for a large flora. He rose to the rank of Curator and became an internationally recognized expert in the systematics and evolution of the large and economically important nightshade family. This volume features a collection of scientific contributions by D'Arcy's friends and colleagues that form a fitting memorial to the life of this influential taxonomist.