Remarkable Plants of Texas: Uncommon Accounts of Our Common Natives (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

About this book

With some 6 000 species of plants Texas has extraordinary botanical wealth and diversity. Learning to identify plants is the first step in understanding their vital role in nature and many field guides have been published for that purpose. But to fully appreciate how Texass native plants have sustained people and animals from prehistoric times to the present you need Remarkable Plants of Texas. In this intriguing book Matt Warnock Turner explores the little-known factsbe they archaeological historical material medicinal culinary or culturalbehind our familiar botanical landscape. In sixty-five entries that cover over eighty of our most common native plants from trees shrubs and wildflowers to grasses cacti vines and aquatics he traces our vast array of connections with plants. Turner looks at how people have used plants for food shelter medicine and economic subsistence; how plants have figured in the historical record and in Texas folklore; how plants nourish wildlife; and how some plants have unusual ecological or biological characteristics. Illustrated with over one hundred color photos and organized for easy reference Remarkable Plants of Texas can function as a guide to individual species as well as an enjoyable natural history of our most fascinating native plants.