Flowering Plants of the Sierra Nevada A Photographic Guide to Over 1000 Wildflowers

About this book

The most extensive guide to identifying the flowering plants in California's richly diverse Sierra Nevada mountains.

This photographic guide to the wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada has been over twenty-five years in the making, drawing together spectacular images by Stephen Sharnoff, the photographer of the acclaimed Lichens of North America, and informative text by botanist Joanna Clines, who has decades of field experience and is a top authority on the region's flowers. Comprehensive and deeply researched, it will help users identify 1,000 flowers found in California's iconic mountain range, from our celebrated manzanitas and lovely lupines to tiny California popcorn flowers. The book's detail will satisfy die-hard plant experts, while helpfully annotated photographs – pointing to fruits, anatomical features, and colour variations – will guide beginners to botanising.

The geographic range stretches from the western foothills through the alpine zone, and down to about 6,000 feet on the eastern slope; and from Lake Almanor in the north to the Tehachapi Mountains.

Contents

Foreword by Peter Raven
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations, Measurements, and Symbols
Color Thumbnails-at-a-Glance Index

Introduction
    Native People and Flowering Plants
    How to Use This Guide
    Basics of Plant Identification
    Parts of Flowering Plants Used in Identification
    Geophysical Features of the Sierra Nevada
    Geology and Soils
    Climate
    Ecological Zones
        Foothill
        Montane
        Subalpine
        Alpine
        Sagebrush/Pinyon-Juniper
    Special Habitats
        Rock Outcrops and Cliffs
        Riparian Areas and Meadows
        Burned Areas
    Rare Plants
    Invasive Non-native Plants
    And Finally, a Couple of Notes of Caution

Species Descriptions
    Nymphaeales
    Magnoliids
    Eudicots
    Monocots

Glossary
Bibliography
Photo Credits
Resources
Index
About the Authors 

Customer Reviews

Biography

Joanna Clines has been the forest botanist for the Sierra National Forest since 1990. Clines served on the boards of the California Native Plant Society and the California Invasive Plant Council, and she is past president of the Sequoia chapter of CNPS. She lives in the Sierra Nevada and can be found botanising on or off the job, often at dusk.

Stephen Sharnoff wrote and illustrated A Field Guide to California Lichens, and he and his late wife, Sylvia Sharnoff, did the photographic fieldwork for Lichens of North America. A Guggenheim fellow, his photographs have appeared in numerous books, exhibitions, and magazines, including National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Science News. He lives in Santa Fe.

Peter H. Raven, PhD, is president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden and Engelmann professor of botany at Washington University in St. Louis. Raven's botanical research and work in the area of tropical conservation have earned him numerous honours and awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship. He has written 17 textbooks and more than 400 articles, and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council.