Stephen Ingram's book is not just a wealth of knowledge, it's also a collection of some of the best photographs I have seen, especially in a book on succulent plants. These images are of a quality that one would encounter in books on art and photography. His treatment of each species begins with a common name, the Latin binomial, a pronunciation key (to the binomial), a list of recent synonyms, and a compilation of other common names. He also provides a section on identifying characteristics, including habit, stems, spines, flowers, and fruits....If you're looking for a book to gain knowledge of these fascinating plants, or for one that's really helpful in identifying specimens, or just one with beautiful images, it's all here. ----Duke Benadom, Editor,
Cactus and Succulent Journal, September-October, 2010
Stephen Ingram lives in the midst of cactus habitat, and his love of these and other prickly plants is evident in the pages of this book. The book serves not only as an overview of such desert plants, but doubles as a field guide, lavishly illustrated with Ingram's excellent photographs. Ingram's training as a botanist is revealed in his thorough approach to detailing the evolution, natural history and cultivation of the native cacti, agaves, and yuccas of California...The detailed profiles of the more than sixty species of cactus, yuccas, and agaves living in California and Nevada are excellent. They include precise descriptions of identifying characteristics as well as fine photographic illustrations and clear range maps...Amateur and professional botanists alike will find this new book informative at their desks and useful in the field. Ingram's combination of passion and science may help to foster a greater appreciation for these spiny plants as garden plants, and help assure the continued preservation of their austere, but beautiful desert habitats. ----Virginia Hayes,
Pacific Horticulture, Fall 2008
What a beautifully illustrated book!...The paperback version is small and durable enough to carry into the field and large enough so that color images of landscapes show scenic vistas, habitats that characterize the desert ecosystem, and morphological details of individual plants, plant parts, and flowers...This book must be on the bookshelf of every library, botanist, ecologist, horticulturist, gardener, landscaper, conservationist, botanical museum, and herbarium. ----Harold W. Keller, Ph.D.,
Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2009
This is more than a small format coffee table book; the photos and range maps on their own will serve as useful tools for identifying plants...In addition to being a useful field guide, there are sections on culture, conservation, ecology, and places to see the plants in the wild. By placing much of the technical information in eight appendices, a key, and a glossary, Ingram doesn't bog down readers, but lets his prose keep them moving through the descriptions. ---- --Stephen McCabe,
The Bulletin, UCSC Arboretum, Fall 2008
Stephen Ingram is a native Californian with a long-time interest in plants and plant ecology. He received a B.S. degree in Biology from Lewis and Clark College, and an M.A. degree in Botany from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Following graduate school, Stephen was employed as part of the Research Department at Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, managing the herbarium and working on an epiphyte flora of Monteverde, Costa Rica. He has also worked as a botanical consultant doing rare plant surveys in the Eastern Sierra and the Mojave Desert. Stephen is past president of the Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. His photos have been used in numerous books, magazines, and calendars.
