Wild Orchids Across North America: A Botanical Travelogue [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Phillip E. Keenan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

Appealing to conservationists, travelers, orchid lovers, and naturalists alike, the author takes his readers on an incredible journey to pursue the 145 temperate American orchid species in their native habitats. This chatty account of his field trips in Canada and the U.S. is intended both to document many of our native species and to inspire others to respectfully explore the wealth of orchids. Includes 170 superb color photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

There are about 145 orchid species representing 35 genera in North America. Keenan documents most of them in striking color photographs taken in their native habitats during his 100,000-mile drive. An engaging text in the form of a travelogue complements the photographs. Arrangement is geographical: Alaska, Canada, New England, mid-Atlantic, Midwest, the Southeast, and the West. An orchid checklist has a helpful guide to pronunciation. Readers can follow Keenan's remarkable 100,000-mile trip merely by turning the pages. George Cohen

Review

This is a fascinating book, both as a study of wild orchids and as a study of enthusiasm itself. -- The New York Times Book Review, Verlyn Klinkenborg

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 321 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated; First Edition edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881924520
• ISBN-13: 978-0881924527
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,047,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keenans descriptive prose is a fitting complement for his b, January 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Orchids Across North America: A Botanical Travelogue (Hardcover)

Memoirs and travelogues have long been a popular vehicle for sharing personal experiences on a wide variety of subjects. Most natural history tomes of this type are very general and have little specific information to generate vivid images for the reader. Not so with Philip Keenan's assemblage of more than two decades of traveling throughout most of North America in search of many of the wild orchids of that continent.

Keenan's descriptive prose is a fitting complement for his brilliant full-color images of wild orchids taken in situ from coast to coast. Having accompanied him on many of these forays I can say that each vignette or anecdote brings me back to the day of discovery! For those who have not been there, his photographs will give you a taste of what can be waiting for you.

Both the very rare and the frequent and familiar are treated with the same reverence and respect. For those who have lived in the Northeast the wide-spread pink lady's-slipper is still be to admired as much as the rapidly decreasing fairy-slipper. Keenan takes us to such diverse places as Newfoundland, Alaska (and its breathtaking Kodiak Island), the pinelands of New Jersey, and the open savannas of southeastern North Carolina. A few days in the 'sky islands' of southeastern Arizona yield several sought-after species. Although not a rabid 'life-lister' as are so many in various natural history fields, Keenan appreciates each new species and joins many of us in completing the study of all species within a genus.

This volume is both an excellent addition to the native orchidist's library or a perfect gift for anyone who appreciates nature. I can think of no other book on native orchids, or wildflowers in general, that would be as ideal as a first volume to intrigue and infect someone with an appreciation for the natural world around them. PMB

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, February 9, 1999

By 

Agnes M. Rockett Bolduc "Richard Bolduc" (Mashpee, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Orchids Across North America: A Botanical Travelogue (Hardcover)

I have had the rare satisfaction of experiencing a manuscript about orchids that would be the envy of any writer on any subject, and a pictoral feast that certainly would put Keenan right up there as the Ansel Adams of orchids when it comes to photography.And somewhere up there Rachel Carson must be smiling down and thinking ,"Well done Mr. Keenan", for, like Carson, Keenan has great concern for our voyage through time on our spaceship earth and, in a most disarming manner, alerts us to our ecological responsibilities without being overbearing about it.This is not just about orchids - it's about life.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed information concerning orchid biology, ecology, history, and conservation for nature lovers and gardeners alike, December 9, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Orchids Across North America: A Botanical Travelogue (Paperback)

Now in paperback for the first time, Wild Orchids Across North America: A Botanical Travelogue is offers detailed information concerning orchid biology, ecology, history, and conservation for nature lovers and gardeners alike. Full-color photographs throughout reveal the beauty of these wonderful flowers, making Wild Orchids Across North America a stunning visual treasury as well as a repository of information on all things orchid. The emotion that author and North American Native Orchid Alliance founding member Philip E. Keenan has for these captivating blossoms shows through in his exquisite attention to detail. Highly recommended especially for orchid lovers.