Bulbs: The bulbous plants of Europe and their allies. - Hardcover

Christopher Grey-Wilson; Brian Mathew

9780002192118: Bulbs: The bulbous plants of Europe and their allies.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000219211X ISBN 13: 9780002192118

Publisher: Collins, 1981

Flowers grown from bulbs - lilies, daffodils, irises, orchids, crocuses etc - are deservedly popular amongst both botanists and gardeners, and this beautifully illustrated book is the first comprehensive guide to them. The plants described in this book are technically known as petaloid monocotyledons (plants having petals or petal-like structures though not necessarily swollen underground organs) and this definition excludes such bulbous plants from other groups such as anemones and cyclamen. The area covered includes the whole of Europe and European Russia as far as the Crimea, the Azores and Iceland. Family and generic descriptions are given throughout and for most species fairly full descriptions indicate features most useful in identification, with important characters stressed in italics. Coded distributions and habitat notes help the reader to pin-point a particular plant. To help recognition there are keys to major families, to genera and to individual species in important genera. Orchid flowers are illustrated beside each species' text in place of botanical keys. Over 400 plants are illustrated in colour and many more in black and white. Unless otherwise indicated, the plants in the paintings are natural size; the scale of the line drawings is indicated in the caption. All have been drawn, as far as possible, from living specimens and show the form or forms most likely to be seen. Text and illustrations should be used together as they are intended to complement each other. The book also contains a section on growing bulbous plants, notes on their conservation and botany, a bibliography and a comprehensive index including synonyms and common names

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.