8 books found
Irises and their relatives are lily-like plants related to the orchid and narcissus families, with whom they share a propensity for large, brightly colored, attractive flowers. Many have longlasting flowersÑIris, Gladiolus, and Freesia are among the most important cut-flower crops in the world. The intricate flowers of the iris family are finely adapted for pollination by a variety of animals, including hummingbirds, sunbirds, beetles, butterflies, moths, wasps, and bees. This intimate connection between flower form and pollination biology reveals how the marvelous range of flower colors, shapes, and scents are vital to the lives of the species. The diversity of Iridaceae is illustrated in more than 200 superb photographs supplemented by expert line drawings. A lifetime of work by the world's expert on Iridaceae is distilled in this definitive account. Botanists, ecologists, naturalists, and gardeners will find this an essential reference.
Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer is known as the “father of Texas botany.” While he was not the first botanist to collect plants for scientific examination in Texas, his collections are credited with helping botanists around the world to understand the nature, extent, and significance of the diversity of plants in the state. In partnership with Asa Gray of Harvard University, Lindheimer spent eight years collecting Texas plants to distribute to a list of paying subscribers—including places like the British Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and the Smithsonian Institution. Today, no fewer than 362 plant names are based, at least in part, on Lindheimer collections, and 65 plants have been named in his honor. Lindheimer was a founding settler of New Braunfels, raising his family on the banks of the Comal River while he continued to collect and ship plant specimens. He was “elected” as the first editor of the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung (still published today as the Herald-Zeitung), and served from 1852 to 1872. He wrote a number of articles for the Zeitung on topics ranging from plants, climate, and agriculture to Texas Indian affairs, optimism, and teaching schoolchildren. In the last year of Lindheimer’s life, one of his students worked with him to collect an assortment of his essays and articles from the Zeitung. In 1879, the collection was published as Aufsätze und Abhandlungen von Ferdinand Lindheimer in Texas (Essays and Articles of Ferdinand Lindheimer in Texas). John E. Williams now offers the first English translation of these essays, which provides valuable insight into the natural and cultural history of Texas.
by John Kunkel Small, Amos Arthur Heller
1893
by John W. Griffin, Patricia C. Griffin
2017 · University Press of Florida
"An important book about a natural World Heritage site that also has a rich human heritage."--American Archaeology "As the only available synthesis of the archaeology of the Everglades, this book fills an important niche."--Choice "Adds immeasurably to our knowledge of South Florida archaeology."--Journal of Field Archaeology "Offers a vivid glimpse into a rich cultural past in an oftentimes misunderstood and overlooked region of our country."--H-Net "Detailed descriptions of archaeological surveys and test excavations dovetail nicely with broader chapters on settlement, subsistence, and social organization. This is a valuable reference work."--SMRC Revista "An extremely important work. . . . John has brought his unprecedented knowledge of the archaeology together with his anthropological and ecological insights, to provide the most thorough synthesis of the predrainage aboriginal use of this area. Now that Congress has mandated the restoration of the Everglades . . . this book will provide researchers as well as the general public with an understanding of what the Everglades were like prior to drainage and how humans utilized this natural wonder."--Randolph J. Widmer, University of Houston Originally prepared as a report for the National Park Service in 1988, Griffin's work places the human occupation of the Everglades within the context of South Florida's unique natural environmental systems. He documents, for the first time, the little known but relatively extensive precolumbian occupation of the interior portion of the region and surveys the material culture of the Glades area. He also provides an account of the evolution of the region's climate and landscape and a history of previous archaeological research in the area and fuses ecological and material evidence into a discussion of the sequence and distribution of cultures, social organization, and lifeways of the Everglades inhabitants. Milanich and Miller have transformed Griffin's report into an accessible, comprehensive overview of Everglades archaeology for specialists and the general public. Management plans have been removed, maps redrawn, and updates added. The result is a synthesis of the archaeology of a region that is taking center stage as various state and federal agencies cooperate to restore the health of this important ecosystem, one of the nation's most renowned natural areas and one that has been designated a World Heritage Site and a Wetland of International Importance. This book will make a key work in Florida archaeology more readily available as a springboard for future research and will also, at last, allow John Griffin's contribution to south Florida archaeology to be more widely appreciated. John W. Griffin, a pioneer in Florida archaeology, was an archaeologist for both the Florida Park Service and the National Park Service (NPS), director of the NPS Southeast Archeological Center in Macon, Georgia, and director of the St. Augustine Preservation Board. Jerald T. Milanich is emeritus professor at the University of Florida/Florida Museum of Natural History and author of numerous books about the native peoples of the Southeast United States. James J. Miller was state archaeologist and chief of Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research for twenty years and is now a consultant in heritage planning. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series