MINERALARTS: Iron and Thorn

Second in an occasional series of natural history book reviews.

The Jepson Desert Manual:  Vascular Plants of Southeastern California.  Bruce G. Baldwin, et. al, editors.  2002, University of California Press, 624 pages, softbound.

I bought this book at the Joshua Tree National Park visitor center.  It was the height of spring wildflower season and I was looking forward to meeting many new Mojave Desert plants.  I already had  California Desert Wildflowers by Philip A. Munz (1962, University of California Press, 122 pages, paperbound).  It’s a very nice and useful book, but I was hoping to find something more complete.  Good botany books are difficult to find in the West.

I was delighted with The Jepson Desert Manual.  It is an interesting hybrid between a traditional botanical manual and a field guide.  It has the structure, language, and completeness of a formal botany, but descriptions are abbreviated and illustrations are stripped down to the bare essentials, creating a book that is easy to use in the field.  Unlike most popular guides, it includes ferns and grasses as well as trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.  This book is ideal for someone who has never used a botanical manual or has tried and found them frustrating.  Technical terms are limited to the most useful descriptive words, all of which are clearly defined in an excellent illustrated glossary.  A geographic discussion and detailed maps are very useful, especially for those who are unfamiliar with California.  Following a hundred-year tradition in natural history guidebooks (including the Munz guide that is this book’s ancestor), there is a central section with color plates.   The photos are of very high quality, and illustrate many of the most distinctive Mojave Desert wildflowers.

For each genus, there is a general description, a brief diagnostic key, individual species descriptions, and line drawings of one or more species.  The diagnostic keys are independent of the descriptions, so they can be used or ignored as desired.  Descriptions are quite abbreviated but do contain specific measurements, fruit characteristics, details on distribution and habitat, and other facts that are usually missing from popular guides.  My only criticism is that I would have preferred to have line illustrations for ALL plants in the book, especially in large genera with many similar species.  I don’t think this would have added many pages, especially if superfluous items were omitted (such the horticultural section, which is too generalized to be useful, and the extensive and pompous documentation on the book’s history and structure.)  The binding is fragile for a large paperback, especially for the heavy use that this one is likely to get from many readers, but it does keep the price affordable.  Overall, this is a wonderful book for botanists, land managers, serious naturalists, and California desert hikers who want something more complete and informative than most wildflower guides.  It’s also a good introduction to technical botanical manuals, encouraging the transition from “picture matching” to more formal taxonomic study.  It is a joy to use and offers a treasure trove of lore and images for this unique desert region.  

First in an occasional series of natural history book reviews.

THE GREAT CACTI:  ETHNOBOTANY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY, by David Yetman, 2007.  University of Arizona Press, 297 pages, hardbound.

This beautiful book contains photos and descriptions of more than 100 species of giant columnar cacti in North, Central, and South America.  As the title says, it includes detailed distribution maps and plenty of details on current and historical indigenous use of each species.  But it is most valuable for its photos and natural history discussions, for which it is the only widely available comprehensive resource on these cacti.  The United States is home to only three giant cacti:  the senita and organ pipe (both almost entirely restricted to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park) and the saguaro (southern Arizona and extreme SE California).  Americans who have cactus gardens or who vacation in Mexico may be familiar with a handful of others.  But this book records all the columnar cacti (many of which are rare, localized, and poorly known) and is a celebration of their beauty and diversity.

Each genus has a brief botanical discussion, followed by a description of each species, including growth form, preferred habitat, and any uses that local and/or indigenous people have found for it (many species produce edible fruit and usable lumber).  There are photos of most species growing in their natural habitat, fruit (especially if it is gathered for food or sold in markets) and many unusually large individuals, protected or cultivated stands of cacti, and buildings or furniture made from cactus wood.  The writing style is accessible and informal, which means that anyone - regardless of scientific or natural history background - can enjoy and learn from this book.  As a naturalist, I would have preferred more specific botanical details and technical drawings for each species, and a more concise and uniform presentation of ethnobotanical information (these paragraphs are informative, but tend to be rambling and opinionated).  Oddly and unfortunately, the book’s treatment of the saguaro is perfunctory and incomplete.  Far more information is available on this cactus than on any of the others, and I think the author missed a great opportunity to use this familiar icon as a significant educational ”ambassador” for the other giant cacti.  Despite its shortcomings (which may reflect the publisher’s preferences rather than those of the author), THE GREAT CACTI is lovely and inspiring, and a valuable gem among desert natural history books.