A Botanist's Vocabulary: 1300 Terms Explained and Illustrated (Science for Gardeners)

“The library staff at The New York Botanical Garden has been eagerly awaiting A Botanist’s Vocabulary arrival on the market and in our collection. . . . For lovers of plants and for lovers of language, A Botanist’s Vocabulary is an essential addition to the home and botanical library alike.” — NYBG’s Plant Talk “Students, gardeners, and even professional botanists will find much to like in this expanded glossary, with its concise definitions and elegant drawings. . . . Botany reference collections will find this a welcome addition for users of all levels.” — Booklist “This handy and elegant illustrated glossary features over 1,300 terms used by botanists and home gardeners. Beautiful and finely detailed black-and-white drawings illuminate the minute differences among everything from aggregate fruits to zygomorphic flowers. A splendid ready-reference title that will be eagerly embraced by the green-thumbed.” — Library Journal best reference pick “If you don’t know your palmate from your pandurate leaf, you may find this well laid-out guide to botanical terms a wonderful resource. . . . it’s possible to enrich your whole gardening experience, whether you’re a botany student, a gardener or simply someone who wants to learn more about plants.” — The Guardian “Not only vital to understanding landscape architecture as it is transmitted in the written word, but also for communicating its expressive depth. . . . Terms here are explicated in brief and illustrated by elegant, clear line drawings.” — Landscape Architecture Magazine “Bobbi Angell’s incisive illustrations not only show the botanical structures clearly, but the plant subjects are carefully chosen to be recognizable to many.” — Gardens Illustrated “There are very few books that I believe are truly essential to good gardening. xa0I suspect, though, that this may turn out to be one of the select few.” — Garden Rant “ A Botanist’s Vocabulary is a straightforward, no-frills guide to botanical terms. After a brief introduction, the book explains 1,300 botanical terms from the prosaic (annual) to the esoteric—any idea what zoophilous means? . . . You don’t need a background in horticulture to use this book, but if you’re trying to get one, this book would be a valuable aid.” —Northern Gardener “Sayings like ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ may be considered cliché, but typically they also hit the nail on the head. That’s never been more true than for this book. While understanding a term like ‘lanceolate’ purely based on words (‘lance- or sword-shaped with the widest point toward the base’) may require you to read its definition multiple times, seeing an illustration once is usually enough to get it. . . . Having A Botanist’s Vocabulary on your book shelf is a bit like having a box of assorted Band-Aids in your bathroom. It gives you peace of mind knowing you’re covered if and when you need it.” — Succulents and More “If the meanings of words like rhizomes, xeric, or rosettes do not immediately come to mind, you might be interested in another terrific book of the season, A Botanist’s Vocabulary . These words are among 1,700 explanations, many of which are accompanied by drawings showing exactly what these terms and phrases represent.” — Better Homes and Country Gardens “Accessible to beginners and still useful to professionals and more advanced students.” — A comprehensive reference to botanical terms. The technical terms used to describe plants are essential for accurate identification and communication. This comprehensive glossary, enhanced by clear, accurate illustrations, gives concise definitions of the terms that describe all the visible characteristics of plants.xa0Gardeners, botanists, and nature lovers will find this guide invaluable in understanding the plant kingdom. Susan K. Pell is the science and public programs manager at the United States Botanic Garden, where she gets to show people the awesomeness of plants every day. She was formerly director of science at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where she studied the evolutionary relationships of the cashew family. She holds a PhD in plant biology and teaches courses in genetics, angiosperm morphology, and systematics. Pell lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife and daughter. Bobbi Angell creates richly detailed pen and ink drawings for botanists at the New York Botanical Garden and other institutions. Ror many years, she illustrated The New York Times “Garden Q&A” column. A gardener and printmaker as well as an illustrator, she lives in southern Vermont. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction There is an inherent curiosity among gardeners and naturalists that manifests itself in our conversations and actions. We are the ones making note of a plant label in a botanical garden to go back home to learn more or possibly locate one for our own garden. To us, a fallen blossom on a path begs to be pulled apart and examined up close with a hand lens. A rare plant catalog or a new book about an interesting genus are likely to captivate us for hours. Gardeners and naturalists discuss their observations, noting the first buds that emerge in the spring, describing an unusual feature on a particular plant, sharing cultivation tips for difficult habitats, or giving directions to obscure but botanically wonderful locations. We apply common names as well as Latin names to discuss the plants we encounter or cultivate along the way. We describe the colors, shapes, and textures of the plants, the growth forms and fruit characteristics, but often inadequately, perhaps not knowing the proper word to describe a particular feature, or knowing one word to describe it when our companion or manual uses a different word. We may recognize that there is no such thing as a typical flower, no basic leaf shape or growth habit, but we often cannot come up with the descriptive term for the complex and the unusual. Such terms help us to categorize and organize the world in which we are so intimately involved. Learning and applying the correct term leads to a far better appreciation for the incredible diversity of plants, enables us to communicate our knowledge, and allows us to access an even more technical and in-depth body of literature to satisfy our interests in the botanical world. We have attempted to define terms used by botanists, naturalists, and gardeners alike to describe plants. We have simplified and clarified as much as possible to encourage the use of a common language. The included terms mostly refer to plant structures and come from the horticultural and botanical literature and practice. Many, perhaps most, terms are not easily defined or illustrated. If they were, the botanical kingdom would not be as rich and engaging as it is. With infinite variety, petals and sepals sometimes adhere to each other to attract pollinators or facilitate pollination; male and female reproductive parts may fuse to form intricate unified columns; fruits have peculiar, sometimes complicated, mechanisms of seed dispersal. There are terms that apply only to a particular group of plants, such as orchids, grasses, or irises. Some apply to whole plants or ecosystems, while others are visible only under a microscope. Please wander through the book to recognize the easily applied terms and learn a few unusual ones, but also use the book as a reference when you are stumped by a field guide or a strange-looking fruit. We hope your newfound knowledge helps you gain an even greater appreciation for the world of plants. Read more