Customer Reviews

Succulents: The Illustrated Dictionary

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a beginner with succulent plants and rock gardening. This is a very pretty book with information & photos for identifying plants. I find the pictures a bit small (about 2"x3.25"). For me, differentiating some of the Sempervivum species (or Jovibarba) would be difficult with the description and photos provided (someone more expert may find the descriptions quite sufficient).

I really NEED more information on habitat and cultivation. For me, sun exposure, soil & water requirements, pest problems and such are what I want right now. Also of interest, how variation in sun exposure and water will effect color & habit, cold and heat tolerance, winter protection. Once again, for a more experienced gardener, or someone wanting to move into more exotic succulents (I am working with Sedum, and "hens & chicks" (common name)) this may rate five stars.

I did learn that what I know as "hens & chicks" could be Sempervivum, Jovibarba, or Graptopetalum. This is an example of why it would be nice to have a common name cross reference, as mentioned by another reviewer.

Initially, I thought I would return the book, but have decided to keep it. I have learned about some species that I would like to grow, if I can get information on their culture & habit. This reference will allow me to get new species to experiment with. (This may mean special orders, as local nurseries have limited supplies of common plants.) So far, the Crassulaceae family is where my interest lies - See, I have learned something of value!

You will never confuse a succulent from another cactus or in any matter from another succulent.This illustrated dictionary is for the succulent collector who has his or her own collection and is willing to take that extra step into the knowledge of succulents. This isn't a step to step guide on how to care for succulents however a reference guide foe identification and characteristics of the hundreds and hundreds od succulents in the world. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. great coffee table book with excellent photos and top notch quality I look at it everyday to refresh my memory and to discover new succulents some very strange to normal day to day succulents you can see in gardens both public and private. A wonderful and necessary reference tool.

"Succulents: The Illustrated Dictionary", is the original work of these two partner authors. This concise original offers hundreds of succulents, beautiful and strange, in scientific names. The photographs are as beautiful as "Cacti: The Illustrated Dictionary", but more close up. However, for this guide to be complete, the sequel also needs to be bought along with the original. "Succulents 2" is almost identical to the original in photo and binding quality, which are fine. However, you may as well be purchasing half a book if you only buy one of the series. Both are needed for completion.
The content is rich, featuring different succulent families, such as the poisonous "Euphorbia" genus. (I am still waiting to purchase the sequel to find more interesting families.) When you have these, there is not a chance that you will misidentify differing species.

This books is essentially a photographic encyclopaedia of succulent plants and while it covers an great number of genera and species it would be impossible to cover them all in one volume, hence a second one has been published.

It is excellent for finding that name of that plant you have had in your collection for a long time and have never been able to put a name to. The book gives the genus, species and habitat of the plant. Also some indication of the size the plant may attain and also flower colour.

Of its type it is as good as anything on the market and if you can afford both volumes covers most of the plants available to collectors.

This is an excellent book for those who wish to identify their plants or find out what those plants in a catalogue look like. It is also useful for finding out which is the plant that interests you before you buy. An excellent book all round but some of the pictures, particularly those of the caudiciforms, are of very small seedlings and I have larger plants in my own collection. Obviously the authors ordered some seedling plants from a nursery and then photographed them. Many of the pictures also show only the top of the plant and not its base or the pot it is growing in which can be a bit annoying for those small caudiciform plants. Otherwise I cannot complain and this book is amoung the most valuable in my collection. It has top quality pictures of the mesembryanthemums and many other plants so this makes up for the bad pictures. The authors have fixed the problems with this book in their new book "Succulents II, The New Illustrated Dictionary". Makes a great complement to the Preston-Mafham book on Cacti.

This book would be an excellent addition to any succulent lover's library. The photographs are outstanding, and do not focus so much on the flowers of a species as others in the genre do. It is so much easier to identify that unknown plant when you have a picture of the entire plant to go by. The only negative is that "common" names for plants were not given. I would've appreciated that. I also would've liked a "care & cultivation" (general) section for each type of succulent (or wish the authors would write such a book).

This is a very well written and illustrated book that covers almost all major groups of succulent plants. The photos are really nice and the book has been a great use for plant identification. The author's have also taken the time to explain very basic knowledge of succulent care, not assuming that the readers are advanced botanists.

This book has an excellent selection of photographs that enabled me to choose what to buy from the many catalogs that only list plants by name. If you want propagation information you can get that from the places you order the plants. Great book with great pictures.

This is a really great book, if you want to identify succulents. According to the book, it was inspired by Cacti: The Illustrated Dictionary, same publisher. If you are looking for a book that will help you identify succlents, then this is the book for you. It has wonderful photographs, and I was pleased to be able to identify a mysterious succlent plant of mine within the first 10 minutes of owning the book.

The only thing that I did not like, which is why I am not giving this book a 10 is that the entries run up and down instead of left to right. I could not understand why the authors and publishers did not set up the book like the cacti book was set up. In my opinion this made things a little more difficult to read. However, this was the only fault.

If you decide to get this book, it would defintely be worth your money.

Beautiful, colorful and descriptive photgraphs with text of a very inclusive group of succulents and family. Excellent help when used to identify succulents in my garden and help to decide which new succulents to purchase.