Customer Reviews

Tropical Flowering Plants: A Guide to Identification and Cultivation

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's not necessary to be a horticulturist to add this beautiful book to your library. You're not even required to live in the tropics! I am a Docent at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and our Conservatory includes many of these interesting plants. As visitors walk through, I am now able to provide much more information, thanks to this book. Particularly helpful to non-horticulturists are the many notations throughout this book as to edible, medicinal, and native uses of plants. All conservatories are dedicated to preservation, and Dr Llamas' book allows me to tie in history and practicality to emphasize how vital this is. The crisp and detailed photographs provide clear identification for those of us who don't have formal botanical training. This book will enrich anyone who has an interest in gardening, conservation and the environment. Added to that rich mix is the superb photography. Highly recommended.

There is no other comparable reference source for Tropical Flowering Plants in print known to me. The photographs are first quality. The information for each plant is very comprehensive, concise and is easy to understand.
This is the first attempt to classify plants based upon their DNA. Although plants were previously classified based upon then known acceptable principles, the methods used were not as exact as what Ms. LLamas has done. We now have a better more reliable method of classifying plants.
The number of photographs in this work is remarkable,and is a tremendous aid for identifying our tropical flowering plants and trees. I am a grower of Tropical Flowering Plants and I am constantly refering to this text.

Llamas' book is attractive and up-to-date with the oft-changing taxonomic nomenclature. However two things limit its usefulness to the average reader.

First, the decision to organize plants by family, rather than genus, makes it impossible for most to locate plants without resort to the index. For example, the overwhelming majority of people know that Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, the common tropical hibiscus, belongs in the genus Hibiscus and would expect to find it listed there. On the other hand, very few people know that the genus Hibiscus is contained in the family Malvaceae- where Llamas has listed it. Likewise, everyone know the lemon belong to the genus Citrus, while few people know - or care- that the Lemon is in the family Rutaceae. For the serious hobbyist this organization by family may be rationale and even helpful. But for most others, it simply adds time to locating the information desired.

The books second drawback is the relative dearth of cultural information. In other words, the book may help you put a name to the odd plant, but it's not likely to help you grow it.

If you consider yourself an arm-chair botanist, than this book is for you. For more practical advice or coffee-table reading, I'd look elsewhere.

Previous reviews hit this book on the head. If you are a novice gardener with little horticultural (with botanical) background or experience, you may find the pictures interesting, but certainly the format, layout and information unfulfilling.

However, if you live in Zones 9, 10 or 11, and grow many tropical plants outdoors (beyond the cliche' houseplants know in temperate regions), this book will help you familiarize yourself with plants you will encounter in outdoor landscapes in southern coastal Texas and southern and central FLorida, Puerto Rico, across the Caribbean and to some relevancy, Hawaii.

The book will keep you abreast of last taxonomic names and yes, groupings into plant families.

There is cultural information pertinent to each plants' OUTDOOR landscape use, providing a solid foundation of culture for the plant genus, then any specific information within the genus the differences between, say, light exposures, pH tolerances, soil preferences among species.

A must have reference for serious sub-tropical gardeners and even some professionals (I have seen Northern conservatories with very poor or outright incorrect labeling of tropicals) for ID and legitimate (Fairchild Tropical Garden and other so. FL expert testimonials) information. The ubiquitous reference books EXOTICA and HORTUS 3 fail to describe many of the plants in this book, and this book provides current (yes, 21st Century) taxonomic namings.

This excellent book is not without a few faults--some of which have been brought up in other reviews--but overall this packs a huge amount of information in a beautifully presented volume with gorgeous photography and well-written text. Yes, it's more valuable to the horticulturally-oriented, since it is organized by family rather than genus, and this does limit its easy use to the more studied reader. But nevertheless it is very satisfying to the browser who is unaware of either potential organizational scheme.

Perhaps because Ms. Llamas is South Florida-based, the zone information is sometimes less than accurate, especially as regards tropicals that perform as frost-tender or half-hardy perennials in subtropical areas such as the Gulf States; she doesn't award zone-designations on the a/b half-zone system, a very useful tool in determining hardiness of tropical and subtropical plants; nor is their differentiation between climate adaptations in California or the Desert Southwest as opposed to the humid south/southeast, or truly tropical areas. Nevertheless the zone information is better than in the majority of texts, and in fact it is probably the only successful book I can think of that combines beautiful images, well-written and concise language with at least basic cultivation info, and current scientific nomenclature. She also includes some taxonomical details that really can help identify one plant in comparison to another related species. And here also, the family-grouping scheme is very helpful in comparing related plants, and serves as a valuable learning-tool for budding gardeners, horticulturists and landscape designers/architects.

There's room for improvement: perhaps a two-volume expansion is in order. But I think few will be disappointed with this. Certainly for South Florida there is no finer and more usable book on the subject. And it likely will introduce even seasoned tropical-growers to many new and exciting plants.

This is a beautifully printed book, in the lavish style that has become the mark of the Timber Press. The general impression is that this is a superior work of its kind, and likely this book will be a big hit with somebody looking for an all-inclusive encyclopedia with very brief entries on tropical gardening plants. The pictures appear to be of a very good quality, although it is hard to be sure given their small size (The pictures are big enough to escape being itty-bitty sized, but not by much).

You'll appreciate the fine photography in this well researched book. Up to date plant classifications backed by the worlds leading experts puts this book in a class by itself.

A friend and I saw this book while on a field trip for our National Wildlife Steward training. The price was heartstopping, but we were so impressed by the potential information, and the fact that the author was a South Floridian, that we both purchased a copy. Since then, it has been of great value to me when our Landscape Committee needs to know the botanical name and information for many of the exotic (and native) plants coming into our community. The book is a good starting place to research the cultural information we need to insure our "Right Plant, Right Place" philosophy.

I have been looking for a book like this for years. All you need to know about identification of tropical plants. Great photography. My only criticism would be the lack of the more common names.

This is a large lovely reference book about mostly trees and shrubs rather than greenhouse and houseplants that I expected. I was disappointed. It seems well laid out and informative. Somebody else will probably be delighted to add it to their library.