Book description
Plant Life of Kentucky is the first comprehensive guide to all the
ferns, flowering herbs, and woody plants of the state. This
long-awaited work provides identification keys for Kentucky's 2,600
native and naturalized vascular plants, with notes on wildlife/human
uses, poisonous plants, and medicinal herbs. The common name,
flowering period, habitat, distribution, rarity, and wetland status
are given for each species, and about 80 percent are illustrated with
line drawings. The inclusion of 250 additional species from outside
the state (these species are "to be expected" in Kentucky)
broadens the regional coverage, and most plants occurring from
northern Alabama to southern Ohio to the Mississippi River (an area of
wide similarity in flora) are examined, including nearly all the
plants of western and central Tennessee. The author also describes
prehistoric and historical changes in the flora, natural regions and
plant communities, significant botanists, current threats to plant
life, and a plan for future studies. Plant Life of Kentucky is
intended as a research tool for professionals in biology and related
fields, and as a resource for students, amateur naturalists, and
others interested in understanding and preserving our rich botanical heritage.
"A monumental work-it will serve as a comprehensive reference
guide to the plant life in Kentucky and an identification manual of
the vascular plants for generations of botanists in the
Commonwealth." -- SIDA, Contributions to Botany
