Economic Botany: Plants in our World [Hardcover]

Beryl Simpson (Author), Molly Ogorzaly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 20, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0072909382 | ISBN-13: 978-0072909388 | Edition: 3

Written for the introductory-level course in Economic Botany, this edition offers more emphasis on key topics like biotechnology and ethnobotany.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; 3 edition (December 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072909382
• ISBN-13: 978-0072909388
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, September 8, 2002

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Economic Botany: Plants in our World (Hardcover)

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the botany of economically important plants. Approximately half the book is devoted to food plants, with separate chapters for temperate fruits, tropical fruits, grains, legumes, and vegetables. In each of these chapters, a basic botanical description is provided for each major crop as well as snippets of information about this history or culture usage of the crop. The remainder of the book covers non-food uses of plants, with chapters devoted to spices, herbs, and perfumes; vegetable oils and waxes; hydrogels, latexes, and resins; medicinal plants; psychoactive drugs and poisons; stimulating beverages; alcoholic beverages; fibers, dyes, and tannins; wood, cork, and bamboo; ornamental plants; and economically important uses of algae. The text, especially in the later chapters, also explains how the plants are processed to form the finally product and includes numerous diagrams as well as pictures. The book includes suggested readings, a glossary, and an index, but it does not have study questions. The authors note that they saved money by not using any color photos, since they are so readily available on the Internet, but it would have been nice to point readers to specific sites to view such pictures if they so wished.

Overall, the text is fairly complete, although there are a few omissions and sloppy errors. For example, I was quite puzzled over lack of coverage of the entire ribes family in the temperate fruits section. Perhaps currants and gooseberries aren't well known in the US today, but they were in the past, and they are certainly important in Europe. In the vegetable section, the authors note that spinach is a good source of folic acid and they suggest that "It may have been the folic acid . . . as well as the iron that helped give Popeye his energy." Unfortunately, they didn't critically examine spinach as a source of iron; it is well known today that many other vegetables have much more iron and that the iron in spinach is not as readily absorbable as that found in other vegetables. Such cursory treatment will ensure that readers who are not aware of the limited value of spinach as a source of iron will continue to be misinformed. Rather than treating such subjects so briefly, it would have been better to set the facts straight. In addition to these minor problems, there were a few strange typos that should have been caught, especially in a third edition, such as "Uzbeckistan", and mis-converting Celsius to Fahrenheit "Deciduous trees on the south and west sides . . . reduce temperatures as much as 5 C to 5.5 C (41 to 42 F) inside." Wow! Those are some trees!

Aside from these small limitations, the book might be useful as a textbook for an undergraduate economic botany class. It might also be of interest to garden enthusiasts, although it's rather dry reading.

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent condition, February 13, 2012

By 

JB "JB" (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Economic Botany: Plants in our World (Hardcover)

I bought this book for a class I'm taking. The book is a bit out-of-date, but was required for the class. A new edition would be nice. I purchased the book used through Amazon, but shipped from the seller. Overall condition was decent. There were little to no markings in the text. The binding wasn't in great shape, but was good enough for the price.

4.0 out of 5 stars Textbook, January 12, 2012

By 

London - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Economic Botany: Plants in our World (Hardcover)

I needed this book for college, so I bought it used for about half the price annd it was practically brand new when I got it. I was surprised, I thought it would have markings and much more wear and tear but it was in great condition. I am very satisfied.