Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands
Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands

Author: Craig R. Elevitch

Publisher: PAR

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 818

ISBN-13: 0970254458

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"This book is for the person who lives in the tropics or subtropics and is interested in native plants, who wants to know about plants that are useful, who loves to watch plants grow, and who is willing to work with them. Such a person might ask questions like, Where will they grow? How do I grow them? Are they good to eat? How are they used? What are their names? These questions and more are answered here."--Préface

The Pygmy Hippo Story
The Pygmy Hippo Story

Author: Phillip T. Robinson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-03-01

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 0190611863

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Though the pygmy hippopotamus has been designated as a flagship species of West African forests (meaning that by raising conservation efforts for a single species, an entire ecological region could benefit), very little research has been published on the animal. They are solitary, nocturnal, and highly evasive, and until recent developments in "camera trap" technology, they were considered the least-photographed large mammal species in the world. The information currently available on this endangered species is scattered, limited, redundant, and often inaccurate, and no major volume exists as a resource for those interested in the conservation effort for the species, until now. Phillip Robinson and his coauthors provide a treatment of the natural history, biology, and ecology of the pygmy hippo, along with a discussion of the rare animal's taxonomic niche and a summary of the research initiatives involving it up to this point. The authors show the ways in which the pygmy hippo has come into contact with people in West African countries, both in terms of ecological and cultural impact. This creature has been the subject of local folktales, and is treated as almost mythic in some regions. Information on issues related to captivity, breeding, and zoos is provided. The book is heavily illustrated with original photographs and anatomic drawings. The project should be of use to conservation biologists, zoologists and natural history readers, and will be the definitive single-volume account of an animal that the scientific community has designated to be ecologically significant to West Africa.

CRC World Dictionary of Palms
CRC World Dictionary of Palms

Author: Umberto Quattrocchi

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-08-03

Total Pages: 3591

ISBN-13: 1351651498

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From the Foreword Umberto Quattrocchi has brought us some amazing and useful works through the various dictionaries that he has compiled. This time it is for two very important plant families the palms and the cycads that are synthesized here in these two volumes. Each entry is fascinating not just for the botany and full nomenclature of the plant species but for all the associated uses, folklore and interactions with other organisms. ...These entries are fascinating glimpses of natural history. ... Botanists, conservationists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, geographers, bird watchers, naturalists, historians and those of many other disciplines will find these volumes a most valuable and useful resource. It is the sort of book that will be in frequent use in my library. ----- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, Former Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Following the same format as Umberto Quattrocchi’s highly praised and well-used previous works, The CRC World Dictionary of Palms: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology brings together the vast and scattered literature on palms and cycads to provide better access to information on these economically important plants. Each genus and species has a detailed morphological description and includes a list of synonyms and vernacular names in many languages. Bibliographies accompany each entry which are comprehensive, up-to-date and multi-lingual. The detailed information for every entry on habitats, economic uses, historical and biographical data, botanical exploration, and linguistics will be useful for any library involved with botany, herbal medicine, pharmacognosy, medicinal and natural product chemistry, ecology, ethnobotany, systematics, general plant science, agriculture or horticulture. Umberto Quattrocchi is the author of the bestselling CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names, winner of the prestigious Hanbury Botanical Garden Award. His most recent multi-volume work, CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants, received strong praise as being "... an unparalleled starting place—a tool of first resort for any thoughtful researcher. Quattrocchi and CRC have delivered a dictionary like no other, a learned finger pointing in the right direction." —John de la Parra, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from Economic Botany, Vol. 68, 2014