Table of Contents

Theodore M. Barkley: Foreword
Nancy R. Morin and Richard W. Spellenberg: Introduction: History of the Flora of North America Project
PART I: Physical Setting
1: Luc Brouillet and R. David Whetstone: Climate and Physiography
2: Donald Steila: Soils
PART II: Vegetation and Climates of the Past
3: Alan Graham: History of the Vegetation: Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) and Tertiary
4: Paul A. Delcourt and Hazel R. Delcourt: Paleoclimates, Paleovegetation, and Paleofloras during the Late Quaternary
PART III: Contemporary Vegetation and Phytogeography
5: Michael Barbour and Norman Christensen: Vegetation
6: Robert F. Thorne: Phytogeography
PART IV: Humankind and the Flora
7: James Reveal and James Pringle: Taxonomic Botany and Floristics
8: Ronald Stuckey and Theodore Barkley: Weeds
9: Charles B. Heiser Jr.: Ethnobotany and Economic Botany
10: George Yatskievych and Richard Spellenberg: Plant Conservation
PART V: Classifications and Classification Systems
11: G. Ledyard Stebbins: Concepts of Species and Genera
12: Warren H. Wagner Jr. and Alan R. Smith: Pteridophytes
13: James Eckenwalder: Gymnosperms
14: Arthur Cronquist: A Commentary on the General System of Classification of Flowering Plants
15: James Reveal: Flowering Plant Families: An Overview
Literature Cited
Index

Reviews

"A massive ten-year effort, coordinated by the Missouri Botanical Gardens and involving the collaboration of American and Canadian botanical taxonomists and institutions, finally bears fruit with the simultaneous publication of the first two volumes of a projected 14-volume catalog....Although regional field guides and floras with local range maps and photographs will continue to flourish, these handsomely bound and typeset volumes identifying and detailing the
complete continental flora north of Mexico will be the definitive work well into the next century. For large public and academic libraries." --Library Journal
"I highly recommend this new series for the serious gardener or amateur naturalist. ...I'll bet this would be great for the cross-country family vacation: Imagine the kids in the back of the wagon arguing over which species of pine was growing along the interstate. -- Tony Avent, The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC
"Likely to be regarded as a major event in botany. Its volumes provide more authoritative and useful treatments than do the regional accounts, which hitherto have been the only available source for scientists, conservationists, land managers, agriculturalists, foresters, prospectors for medicinal plants and amateur naturalists." --The New York Times
"I'm delighted with Volume 1....lively and informative essays....an encyclopedia of our present knowledge of the flora of our continent....beautifully illustrated with maps, charts, historic botanical drawings. Excellent photographs....contains a very useful summary of major plants used by North American native peoples....an up-to-the-moment compendium of our knowledge....for a number of years to come, this will be an important reference work for all American
botanists." --Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon
"Should become a well-thumbed reference work not only for botanists but also average gardeners and amateur naturalists." --The Phoenix Gazette
"The first comprehensive description of the plants growing generally north of Mexico....represents the culmination of 11 years of work....a milestone." --College and Research Libraries News
"Concise, straightforward, and consistent in format from group to group." --Robert Ornduff, Science
"Clear, well-organized, and thoroughly referenced.... exceptional....an invaluable regional reference. Highly recommended." --Choice
"Beautifully bound, library quality work. For anyone who ever wanted a reference on the plants of North America, this is the book of our dreams....invaluable to researchers in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and biology, and promises to be the standard reference for environmental management." --Gaillardia, The Oklahoma Native Plant Society Newsletter
"What you get here is a lot more than what you see.... authoritative. This is a dictionary of plant species, the working vocabulary of plant biodiversity, as essential to its knowing, productive users as any big dictionary." --Scientific American
"A massive ten-year effort, coordinated by the Missouri Botanical Gardens and involving the collaboration of American and Canadian botanical taxonomists and institutions, finally bears fruit with the simultaneous publication of the first two volumes of a projected 14-volume catalog....Although regional field guides and floras with local range maps and photographs will continue to flourish, these handsomely bound and typeset volumes identifying and detailing the
complete continental flora north of Mexico will be the definitive work well into the next century. For large public and academic libraries." --Library Journal
"I highly recommend this new series for the serious gardener or amateur naturalist. ...I'll bet this would be great for the cross-country family vacation: Imagine the kids in the back of the wagon arguing over which species of pine was grwoing along the interstate. -- Tony Avent, The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC
"Likely to be regarded as a major event in botany. Its volumes provide more authoritative and useful treatments than do the regional accounts, which hitherto have been the only available source for scientists, conservationists, land managers, agriculturalists, foresters, prospectors for medicinal plants and amateur naturalists." --The New York Times
"I'm delighted with Volume 1....lively and informative essays....an encyclopedia of our present knowledge of the flora of our continent....beautifully illustrated with maps, charts, historic botanical drawings. Excellent photographs....contains a very useful summary of major plants used by North American native peoples....an up-to-the-moment compendium of our knowledge....for a number of years to come, this will be an important reference work for all American
botanists." --Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon
"Should become a well-thumbed reference work not only for botanists but also average gardeners and amateur naturalists." --The Phoenix Gazette
"The first comprehensive description of the plants growing generally north of Mexico....represents the culmination of 11 years of work....a milestone." --College and Research Libraries News
"Concise, straightforward, and consistent in format from group to group." --Robert Ornduff, Science
"Clear, well-organized, and thoroughly referenced.... exceptional....an invaluable regional reference. Highly recommended." --Choice
"Beautifully bound, library quality work. For anyone who ever wanted a reference on the plants of North America, this is the book of our dreams....invaluable to researchers in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and biology, and promises to be the standard reference for environmental management." --Gaillardia, The Oklahoma Native Plant Society Newsletter
"What you get here is a lot more than what you see.... authoritative. This is a dictionary of plant species, the working vocabulary of plant biodiversity, as essential to its knowing, productive users as any big dictionary." --Scientific American
"By any standard these two volumes represent a monumental achievement of many hands and a giant first step toward an even more monumental goal, indeed, the dream of two centuries....liberally illustrated with helpful graphics and pictures. These attractive volumes are so well edited and produced...a watershed of centuries in North American floristics. The work is already a landmark." --Stanwyn G. Shetler (Smithsonian Institution), American Society of Plant
Taxonomists
"The book will be the standard reference work on the subject for decades to come....there are wonderful nuggets contained in the pages of this volume....a definite must for your holdings." --Patricia A. Taylor, The Princeton (NJ) Times
"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Rejoice ye botanists who have cast covetous eyes upon the Australian's or European's continental floras. The first volumes of FNA are out and what a magnificent production they are. --Taxon
"This volume is copiously illustrated with excellent maps, graphs, and photos, including numerous portraits of historic figures in North American botany." --Ronald M. Lanner, Editor of Western Journal of Applied Forestry
"This book is the first of a 14 volume set presenting a comprehensive flora of North America. Its continental scope and thoroughness of coverage make it the benchmark upon which much future research in phytogeography, systematics, and conservation will be built."--Biosis
"The long awaited first volume of what promises to be one of the most exceptional compilations of knowledge to date about the flora of North America. This volume sets the stage for all future volumes, covering such subjects as physiographic regions, the importance of soils in determining distribution of species, vegetation and climates of the past, ecosystems today, phytogeography, concepts of species and genera, as well as many other subjects." --Maine
Naturalist
"By any standard these two volumes represent a monumental achievement and a giant first step toward an even more monumental goal. The Flora of North America is the first comprehensive identification manual for the native and naturalized vascular plants of the entire continent north of Mexico....The format of these 8-1/2 x 11-inch books is open, spacious, and easy to read....The articles provide a wealth of fascinating and invaluable background
facts....The articles also serve as keys to the pertinent literature on the subject....The first volume is liberally illustrated with helpful graphics and pictures....These attractive volumes are so well edited and
produced....We have reached a watershed in North American floristics. This new work is already a landmark, affirming both hope and apprehension....It will be the work of the century, and any serious student of the plant life of North America surely will want to buy each volume as it appears." --Naturalist News
"I expect John Torrey and Asa Gray shouted from the rooftops when Volumes I and II of the Flora of North America appeared in print....It is, after all, the beginning of the culmination of more than 160 years of botanical exploration, documentation, and analysis of the flora of the North American continent....[Its] appearance is the clear expression of the continuing fascination of the evolution of the North American continent and its associated biota
by an extraordinarily articulate cadre of scientists. I should think that Torrey and Gray would be bustin' proud....The writing throughout Volume I is clear, elegant prose, and the Flora of North America
Editorial Committee should be commended for the careful and consistent editing ....The history of systematics and floristics of North America provided in Volume I are essential to the understanding and appreciation of each page of this botanical opus." --Peggy L. Fiedler, San Francisco State University, Madrono
"All of these essays are authoritative and will probably become standard references....The use of experts on each group means that the treatments are current and, therefore, often different from those found in all but the most recent literature....For this reason, as well as their comprehensive nature, these volumes will be a basic reference from which much of the next century's investigation of the North American flora will take its departure." --Bruce H.
Tiffney, American Reference Books Annual
"Volume 1 is an introduction, perhaps the most thorough and extensive ever written. This is virtually a textbook....If there's something they left out, I don't know what it might be....One can find nowhere else so many masterly syntheses....One is impressed with the amount of space given to acknowledging the work and support of so many people; the convening editor is to be congratulated on making this a truly national and international effort....These volumes,
and the 12 more to come, are national science in the very best sense of the term, and one is pleased to see an acknowledgment of support from the National Science Foundation of the U.S. government.
Botanists of every stripe will surely urge continued support for this giant synthesis." --Neil A. Harriman, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Economic Botany, published by The Society for Economic Botany by The New York Botanical Garden
"Those who have contributed to this first volume of Flora North America have done a tremendous job. It is something that will last for many years and will be a most welcome beginning for anyone starting out in the field of botany." --The Canadian Field-Naturalist
"A comprehensive continent-encompassing flora of the North America has been the dream of American botanists since thw 1830s. Now, the first two of the fourteen volumes of Flora of North America are here....More than two dozen botanists contributed to the essays, which include succinct, yet detailed and fascinating accounts on all aspects of the continent....This is a major publishing event, perhaps the North American botanical publication of the
century. All with an interest in plants will want to own this book." --Botanical and Herb Reviews