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Re: Plant Taxonomy Book?

In article <6b.3550.2616.0N8D6B3A@sound.com>, bob.batson@sound.com (Bob Batson) writes:
> Can anyone recommend a good introductory book about Plant Taxonomy?

I'm currently using Walters, DR & Keil, DJ 1988 Vascular Plant Taxonomy, 
3rd ed. Kendall Hunt, Dubuque, IA for my plant systematics course.  Pretty
good explanations of terms and descriptions of important families and their
recognition characteristics, pretty good discussion of the philosophy and
practices behind evolutionary classifications.

I like Tod Stuessy's (1990) Plant taxonomy: The systematic evaluation of
comparative data (Columbia Univ. Press) for its discussions of the whys
and wherefores of classification, but my students find it very dry, and 
it does not cover family recognition characteristics (they're mainly
interested in "what is it and how do I key it out", not great philosophical
ruminations on the differences between a subspecies and a variety and a semi-
species.)

If you're interested primarily in the identification and family recognition
aspects, and not the philosophy, CL Porter (1967) Taxonomy of Flowering Plants
(WH FReeman) does a nice job of explaining terminology, giving good drawings
and diagrams, and talking about recognition characteristics, but the 
organizing system he uses (Engler) is pretty well dead now.
It is, however, very readable, and I see copies in used book stores fairly
often for about $3-5; I own several copies that I often lend to students
who have trouble visualizing flowers in cross section, since Porter
uses floral diagrams.

There's a lot of other good books out there, too, so don't let me dissuade
you from one you find to be useful.

For my own use, however, when I want to refresh my memory of a family,
I reach for GHM Lawrence's Taxonomy of Vascular Plants (1951; Macmillan,
out of print, alas).  It's got good information in a nice compact form,
and good (if tiny) diagrams for each family.  The organization of the
book may be out of date, but it's still a handy compendium, but not a
"do it yourself beginner's taxonomy book".

If I knew a bit more about what you wanted, I might be able to suggest
a specific title or titles.

Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI