Seeds of Amazonian Plants is the first field guide to treat the extraordinary diversity of seeds and diaspores of plants commonly encountered in the Amazon and other lowland moist forests of the American tropics. This stunningly illustrated guide features an easy-to-use whole-plant approach to seed identification that provides detailed descriptions not only of the seeds but also of the habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit of Amazonian plants, as well as information about the known uses and distribution of each genus. Presenting these descriptions together with 750 full-colour photos and a unique identification key, this premier field guide enables users to identify seeds of 544 genera and 131 families of plants.
Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xv Collecting and Identifying Seeds xvii How to Use This Book xix Aid to Identification of Amazonian Seeds xxi Family and Genus Descriptions 1 Glossary and Illustrations of Botanical Terminology 149
Fernando Cornejo is research associate and field research botanist at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. John Janovec is research botanist and founding director of the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
Some look like brains, some like arrowheads, others like beads, propellers or puffs of cotton. Seeds have evolved many of these striking features to help them propagate in the wild... [Seeds of Amazonian Plants] will help scientists understand how forests regenerate, how plants disperse, and how the varied species of this tropical region evolve together as a single ecosystem. -- Anna Kuchment, Scientific American This stunningly illustrated guide features an easy-to-use whole-plant approach to seed identification that provides detailed descriptions not only of the seeds but also of the habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit of Amazonian plants... The most comprehensive field guide to Amazonian seeds. -- Ian Paulsen, Birdbooker Report Cornejo and Janovec devoted more than 20 years conducting research in the Peruvian Amazon to produce this book, an excellent guide to the seeds of some 544 genera representing 131 families... The comprehensiveness of this guide will provide tropical biologists and informed laypersons a valuable field reference for Amazonian seeds, as well as a way to easily identify them to genus level. -- Choice