About this book

The overall design of the book and the plates is similar between the first and the second editions. However, two changes are apparent. Firstly, on the photographic plates, there is a subtle change in the numbering. The photographs no longer have a white triangle on the left-hand corner onto which a number is typed in. This makes the plates look smarter and more contemporary.

Overall the plates look sharper. The design of the facing page with text and a distribution map is unchanged. The other key change is the size of the book. The second edition is a hefty pages compared to pages in the first edition. One of the design features I really liked was the key being depicted as a flowchart. The first edition also had this, but it looked more like a molecular phylogenetic diagram consisting of simple lines.

Customer Reviews (1)

In the second edition, the design is more pleasing although containing the same information and breaking the species into 43 groups based on leaf characteristics. Both editions contain the same number of groups although the later edition covers more species.


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The flowchart-based format for illustrating identification keys makes it so simple to follow rather than the traditional text-based identification keys. The user-friendly design extends into the end matter where images are used as a photographic glossary to illustrate features such as stipules and domatia. The grouping based on leaf characteristics does mean that species from different plant families and orders are mixed into the same group and offers no insight into the evolutionary relationships.

Plant guides can never offer both; having to choose between a taxonomic approach e. Given that the aim is to help non-botanists identify the trees of Southern Africa, this approach is probably appropriate. As a result of arranging the trees into groups with shared external characteristics, the brief accounts of the different families to which they belong, are provided in the front section of the book.

The text is necessarily concise with over a 1, of the 2, species found in the region covered in its pages. The text hits the mark with a minimal use of botanical terms and being identification oriented with key diagnostic features in bold face. It also in some cases highlights differences with similar species. In this respect it is unchanged in style from the first edition which I suspect may have been a pioneering photographic field guide in distilling the essence of identification with a focus on diagnostic features rather than repeating a ream of features leaving the reader to figure out how to tell one species apart from another.

My motivation for buying this book was twofold.

References

Firstly, in anticipation of a forthcoming trip to Zambia. Although Southern Africa is defined as the area south of the River Zambezi, this book seemed like it would be a good proxy for a field guide to the trees I am likely to see in Zambia. Secondly, I am working on a compact photographic guide to the trees of Sri Lanka. Reading botanical books from other parts of the world is a part of the background research as well as a way of scouting around for good techniques to make a book, reader-friendly. I would recommend that anyone working on a photographic guide to plants examines this book for its elements of good design and clarity of exposition.

The front matter of the book has a brief introduction which includes a map showing the biomes and vegetation types in Southern Africa. Another map shows the regions and centres of plant diversity and endemism. Southern Africa has several centres of plant endemism. This is followed by a section on identifying trees and sections on how to use the book and a guide to the species accounts. The key to the 43 groups used in the book is followed by the family descriptions.


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Pages 18 to 33 cover the family descriptions and the sections seem brief. However, an astonishing plant families are covered; around a quarter of the plant families presently recognised in the work of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 4 APG4. The end section is quite lengthy, running from pages It begins with a photographic index of full trees and runs up to page , with the trees in the same order of the 43 groups. Trees in isolation are hard to photograph.

Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa | NHBS Field Guides & Natural History

Isolated trees are either those that have managed to establish themselves somewhere inhospitable or those that have been left alone as shade trees or to provide fodder for livestock when people have made clearings. The full trees in the appendix are cross-referenced in the main text. The book is completed with a glossary of terms, figures, a bibliography and a list of contact addresses.

This is an outstanding field guide. I cannot imagine anyone with an interest in plants, living or regularly visiting Southern Africa not wanting to have this book. Was this helpful to you? See the previous edition. Bestsellers in Botany of Africa.

Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa

Succulents of Southern Africa. Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean. While the printed version is excellent - his e-version is useless for identifying an unknown tree because here are no page numbers to tie into the identification keys. We will send you an SMS containing a verification code. Please double check your mobile number and click on "Send Verification Code". Enter the code below and hit Verify. Free Shipping All orders of Don't have an account? Update your profile Let us wish you a happy birthday!


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