Overview

Pitcher Plants of the Americas is an uniquely detailed study of the natural diversity and wild ecology of the American pitcher plants including three genera of true pitcher plants (Darlingtonia, Heliamphora, and Sarracenia) and two genera of carnivorous tank bromeliads (Brocchinia and Catopsis). This work intended to be the most substantive and up to date overview of the worlds largest and most spectacular group of carnivorous plants which occur across the most barren and least explored areas of the American continents. Enhanced through the use of 245 spectacular colour images, Pitcher Plants of the Americas represents the first complete overview of the systematics, biology, ecology, biogeography, conservation, and horticulture of the five genera of American pitcher plants as well as what is unquestionably the most extensive photographic record of this remarkable and very beautiful group of plants. All currently known forms and varieties of each species of the American pitcher plants are described and examined in detail, in many cases for the very first time.

The introductory chapters of this work outline the taxonomic content and groupings (by trapping methods) of carnivorous plants and briefly review the taxonomy, biology, evolutionary history, and biogeography of the American pitcher plants. The following five chapters are devoted to individual genera of the American pitcher plants and examine indetail the anatomy, habitat, ecology, trapping process, and distribution of each genus and each member species as well as many naturally occurring hybrids and selected cultivars.

The concluding chapters of Pitcher Plants of the Americas summarize the current conservational status of each family of American pitcher plants in terms of the nature and extent of habitat loss and the resulting threat of extinction and the study closes by considering the various successful conservation approaches and initiatives which are helping to secure a bright future for these rare plants.

The strengths of this book include (1) its uniquely detailed systematic coverage of the five genera and twenty-five recognized species, forty-six infraspecific taxa, and eleven representative cultivars within the American pitcher plant group; (2) the first and only comprehensive, systematic coverage of the genus Heliamphora; (3) the full-color format and 245 spectacular photographs used to document each taxon and cultivar covered; (4) the very first published images of several species and varieties in their natural habitat; and (5) descriptions and photographs of thirty currently unnamed and largely undocumented phenotypic varieties of Sarracenia.

Pitcher Plants of the Americas is up to date, comprehensive, focused, well illustrated and visually beautiful. It is technically written yet is accessible to specialist and nonspecialist audiences and will be a valued source of information, as a reference book as well as an spectacular overview that will appeal to botanists, naturalists, ecologists, biogeographers, resource managers, conservationists, horticulturalists, and gardeners– among others!

Outside dimension; 6 x 9", 
Length; ca. 320 pages

Hardcover copy, autographed by the author AU$ 63.00
Price includes gst & shipping Australia wide.

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