A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia
A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia

Author: Rose McLarney

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0820356247

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Getting acquainted with local flora and fauna is the perfect way to begin to understand the wonder of nature. The natural environment of Southern Appalachia, with habitats that span the Blue Ridge to the Cumberland Plateau, is one of the most biodiverse on earth. A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia—a hybrid literary and natural history anthology—showcases sixty of the many species indigenous to the region. Ecologically, culturally, and artistically, Southern Appalachia is rich in paradox and stereotype-defying complexity. Its species range from the iconic and inveterate—such as the speckled trout, pileated woodpecker, copperhead, and black bear—to the elusive and endangered—such as the American chestnut, Carolina gorge moss, chucky madtom, and lampshade spider. The anthology brings together art and science to help the reader experience this immense ecological wealth. Stunning images by seven Southern Appalachian artists and conversationally written natural history information complement contemporary poems from writers such as Ellen Bryant Voigt, Wendell Berry, Janisse Ray, Sean Hill, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Deborah A. Miranda, Ron Rash, and Mary Oliver. Their insights illuminate the wonders of the mountain South, fostering intimate connections. The guide is an invitation to get to know Appalachia in the broadest, most poetic sense.

Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont
Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont

Author: Timothy P. Spira

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2011-05-16

Total Pages: 541

ISBN-13: 0807877654

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This richly illustrated field guide serves as an introduction to the wildflowers and plant communities of the southern Appalachians and the rolling hills of the adjoining piedmont. Rather than organizing plants, including trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, by flower color or family characteristics, as is done in most guidebooks, botanist Tim Spira takes a holistic, ecological approach that enables the reader to identify and learn about plants in their natural communities. This approach, says Spira, better reflects the natural world, as plants, like other organisms, don't live in isolation; they coexist and interact in myriad ways. Full-color photo keys allow the reader to rapidly preview plants found within each of the 21 major plant communities described, and the illustrated species description for each of the 340 featured plants includes fascinating information about the ecology and natural history of each plant in its larger environment. With this new format, readers can see how the mountain and piedmont landscapes form a mosaic of plant communities that harbor particular groups of plants. The volume also includes a glossary, illustrations of plant structures, and descriptions of sites to visit. Whether you're a beginning naturalist or an expert botanist, this guidebook is a useful companion on field excursions and wildflower walks, as well as a valuable reference. Southern Gateways Guide is a registered trademark of the University of North Carolina Press

Where There Are Mountains
Where There Are Mountains

Author: Donald Edward Davis

Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0820340219

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A timely study of change in a complex environment, Where There Are Mountains explores the relationship between human inhabitants of the southern Appalachians and their environment. Incorporating a wide variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences, the study draws information from several viewpoints and spans more than four hundred years of geological, ecological, anthropological, and historical development in the Appalachian region. The book begins with a description of the indigenous Mississippian culture in 1500 and ends with the destructive effects of industrial logging and dam building during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Donald Edward Davis discusses the degradation of the southern Appalachians on a number of levels, from the general effects of settlement and industry to the extinction of the American chestnut due to blight and logging in the early 1900s. This portrait of environmental destruction is echoed by the human struggle to survive in one of our nation's poorest areas. The farming, livestock raising, dam building, and pearl and logging industries that have gradually destroyed this region have also been the livelihood of the Appalachian people. The author explores the sometimes conflicting needs of humans and nature in the mountains while presenting impressive and comprehensive research on the increasingly threatened environment of the southern Appalachians.

Mountain Nature
Mountain Nature

Author: Jennifer Frick-Ruppert

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2010-04-15

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0807898260

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The Southern Appalachians are home to a breathtakingly diverse array of living things--from delicate orchids to carnivorous pitcher plants, from migrating butterflies to flying squirrels, and from brawny black bears to more species of salamander than anywhere else in the world. Mountain Nature is a lively and engaging account of the ecology of this remarkable region. It explores the animals and plants of the Southern Appalachians and the webs of interdependence that connect them. Within the region's roughly 35 million acres, extending from north Georgia through the Carolinas to northern Virginia, exists a mosaic of habitats, each fostering its own unique natural community. Stories of the animals and plants of the Southern Appalachians are intertwined with descriptions of the seasons, giving readers a glimpse into the interlinked rhythms of nature, from daily and yearly cycles to long-term geological changes. Residents and visitors to Great Smoky Mountains or Shenandoah National Parks, the Blue Ridge Parkway, or any of the national forests or other natural attractions within the region will welcome this appealing introduction to its ecological wonders.

A Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of the Southern Appalachians
A Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of the Southern Appalachians

Author: Robert E. Swanson

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 1994-03

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780801845567

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Although the title suggests this is a guide to plants in a limited geographic range, the plants here are found in many areas of eastern North America, and the book can therefore be used as a guide for this larger area. But for naturalists visiting the beautiful area of the Southern Appalachians, it is a detailed and useful guide to the amazing variety of trees, shrubs, and woody vines growing there. "For naturalists visiting the beautiful area of the Southern Appalachians, it is a detailed and useful guide to the amazing variety of trees, shrubs, and woody vines growing there."-American Reference Books Annual

Waterfalls and Wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians
Waterfalls and Wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians

Author: Timothy P. Spira

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2015-03-02

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1469622653

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If you love waterfalls, here are some of the best hikes in the Southern Appalachians. And if you love plants--or simply would like to learn more about them--you will be in hiking heaven: naturalist Tim Spira's guidebook links waterfalls and wildflowers in a spectacularly beautiful region famous for both. Leading you to gorgeous waterfalls in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia, the book includes many hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As he surveys one of America's most biologically diverse regions, Spira introduces hikers to the "natural communities" approach for identifying and understanding plants within the context of the habitats they occupy--equipping hikers to see and interpret landscapes in a new way. Each of the 30 hikes includes: * a detailed map and GPS coordinates * a lively trail description highlighting the plants you are most likely to see, as well as birds and other animals along the way * an associated plant species list Also featured: * beautiful color photographs of 30 destination waterfalls, 125 plants, and more * detailed descriptions of 125 key plant species * 22 drawings to help identify plant structures * a glossary of botanical terms

Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia
Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia

Author: Anthony Cavender

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2014-07-25

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1469617390

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In the first comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology, and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the nineteenth century to the present. He provides a complete tour of ailments and folk treatments organized by body systems, as well as information on medicinal plants, patent medicines, and magico-religious beliefs and practices. He investigates folk healers and their methods, profiling three living practitioners: an herbalist, a faith healer, and a Native American healer. The book also includes an appendix of botanicals and a glossary of folk medical terms. Demonstrating the ongoing interplay between mainstream scientific medicine and folk medicine, Cavender challenges the conventional view of southern Appalachia as an exceptional region isolated from outside contact. His thorough and accessible study reveals how Appalachian folk medicine encompasses such diverse and important influences as European and Native American culture and America's changing medical and health-care environment. In doing so, he offers a compelling representation of the cultural history of the region as seen through its health practices.

Witches, Ghosts, and Signs
Witches, Ghosts, and Signs

Author: Patrick W. Gainer

Publisher: Vandalia Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 9781933202204

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Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians by the renowned West Virginia folklorist and former West Virginia University English professor Patrick W. Gainer not only highlights stories that both amuse and raise goosebumps, but also begins with a description of the people and culture of the state. Based on material Gainer collected from over fifty years of field research in West Virginia and the region, Witches, Ghosts, and Signs presents the rich heritage of the southern Appalachians in a way that has never been equaled. Strange and supernatural tales of ghosts, witches, hauntings, disappearances, and unexplained murders that have been passed down from generation to generation from as far back as the earliest settlers in the region are included in this collection that will send chills down the spine.

Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians
Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians

Author: Patricia Kyritsi Howell

Publisher: Boston Academic Pub

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780977490509

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This concise guide to medicinal plants of the Southern Appalachians includes botanical descriptions of 45 native plants, their historical and current uses in herbal practice, detailed, easy-to-follow medicine making instructions and unique recipes for syrups, liniments, digestive bitters and more. The book invites the reader to explore native plants in their wild habitats and offers step-by-step ethical harvesting guidelines while emphasizing conservation issues. The author is a well-respected medical herbalist and teacher who lives in the mountains of north Georgia. Praise for Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians. "This is one volume that I want to own as we enter the post-corporate age: a priceless guide to Southern plant alchemy. This practical yet enchanting botanical brings an ancient art to modernity. These pages are as rich as the cove forests they honor. Even to peruse Howell's manual is healing, and exhilarating, not only because of the book's inherent beauty, but because it contains vital knowledge all of us will need as fossil fuels dwindle and we return to the local. One day this book may save your life." Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, Wild Card Quilt and Pinhook: Finding Wholeness in a Fragmented Land "An elegant introduction presented in a clear-as-a-bell style that educates as well as entertains." Peter Loewer, author of The Wild Gardener and Jefferson's Garden "There are many comprehensive volumes about medicinal plants in other regions of North America but none for the botanically rich southeast. Now, a widely experienced and knowledgeable herbalist has written a thorough guide to the virtues of Yellow Root, Rabbit Tobacco, Dogwood Bark, Sweet Fern and other better known herbs of the region. From Howell's book, readers can learn to use local plants safely and consciously to improve the health of their families or patients." David Winston, RH (AHG), Dean, Herbal Therapeutics School of Herbal Medicine "An excellent, much needed resource on Southeastern herbs. Well thought out and easy to follow." Tim Blakely, co-author of The Bootstrap Guide to Medicinal Herbs in the Garden, Field and Marketplace "I often remind veterinarians that the foundation of botanical medicine lies in the experience of learning all aspects of medicinal plants thoroughly. This book guides the reader out of the classroom and into the fields and forest where plants become, to the student, more tangible sources of healing. Recommended for any practitioner who wants to deepen their understanding of our native apothecary." Susan Wynn, DVM, RH (AHG), Executive Director, Veterinary Botanical Medical Assoc.