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Overview
This profusely illustrated reference guide offers students and nature lovers a fundamental understanding of all plant life, from the tallest trees to tiny fungal growths. It explains plant formation, growth, and reproduction, both in the wild, and in cultivated fields and plant nurseries. Cross-section illustrations show the parts of fruits and flowers and explain seed germination. Plant life is also presented within the larger context of the Earth's ecosystem. The influence of climates is shown with focus on how plant life differs in desserts, rain forests, and temperate zones. Plants are seen as sources of food, as floral and garden decoration, as wood for lumber, and even as fiber for the manufacture of cloth and rope. The book is filled with photos, artwork, and easy-to-read diagrams and charts, all in full color. It makes a fine reference book for classrooms and school libraries.
Editorials
Library Journal
This translation of a Spanish atlas is a crammer for high schoolers-a book with countless full-color illustrations on every page (including diagrams and charts), little text (fewer then 50 entries), and some botanical factoids sprinkled throughout. It includes a table of contents in the usual place and one that runs along right-page margins, provided, one guesses, to help bring the student's wandering attention back to the task at hand. It is a guide, in short, for those who would rather be doing something other than studying botany. Not surprisingly, in a quick study like this, there are omissions-like a glossary or a more detailed subject index; coverage of the subject itself is adequate. More troubling are the many sloppy errors: under a picture of hummingbirds, for example, a caption explains how fruit-eating birds aid in seed dispersal; under a picture of an iris we read of the more than 20,000 types of orchids in the world; elsewhere, we read that the yucca is a plant "that reaches 50 to 60 feet in height" and that arboriculture is the "cultivation of fruit trees." These mistakes mar an otherwise useful book. Bottom Line Although this heavily illustrated reference is intended for classrooms and school libraries, young readers would be better served by the World Book or DK's Plant and more advanced students by Kingley Stern's Introductory Plant Biology.-Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Book Details
Published
May 1, 2004
Publisher
Hauppauge, NY : Barron's, 2004.
Pages
96
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780764127090