Download Free Field Guide To The Orchids Of Costa Rica And Panama Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Field Guide To The Orchids Of Costa Rica And Panama and write the review.

The first field guide to the orchids of Costa Rica and Panama, this book is lavishly illustrated with 240 stunning color photographs and 229 line drawings. It contains keys to all the orchid genera in the region and most of the orchid species. To enable nonbotanists to identify at least the genus of orchids, Robert L. Dressler emphasizes features that can be readily seen with the naked eye or a hand lens. Written in a friendly and accessible style, this guide begins with succinct descriptions of the geography, climate, and vegetation of Costa Rica and Panama, and includes appropriate comments on the peoples and cultures of the area. A discussion of orchid structure and ecology follows. The identification keys are preceded by instructions for use, and a general key directs the user to the appropriate chapter, where condensed descriptions and additional keys narrow the choices for the plants identity. Dressler avoids complex terminology and supplies a glossary of technical terms that will he helpful to those unfamiliar with botanical vocabulary. A short appendix describes how to prepare orchids for study, and summarizes laws that affect plant collectors, and another lists the authors of species names used in the guide. Reflecting the autor's deep and broad knowledge of the orchids of tropical Latin America, this field guide is certain to prove valuable to botanists, field biologists, orchid hobbyists, and tourists interested in natural history.
Written in a friendly and accessible style, this guide contains keys to all the orchid genera in the region and most of the orchid species. Includes a discussion of orchid structure and ecology, plus 240 stunning color photos and over 200 line drawings.
At the biological crossroads of the Americas, Costa Rica hosts one of the widest varieties of plants in the world, with habitats ranging from tidal mangrove swamps, and lowland rainforests, to dry tropical evergreen and deciduous forests. Field Guide to Plants of Costa Rica is a must-have reference guide for beginner and expert naturalists alike. It provides a thorough survey of more than 850 plant species, each entry accompanied by color photos and a concise yet detailed narrative description. Plants are conveniently grouped by the different types of vegetation: palms, tall trees, shrubs, woody vines, herbaceous vines, herbs, grasses and ferns. Along with 1400 color photographs, the guide also includes an illustrated glossary of plant parts, five maps of Costa Rica, and laminated covers for durability in the field. With so much readily accessible information, this book is essential for exploring Costa Rica's common and conspicuous flora from the plants growing along the roadside to the best natural parks.
"Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered... Readable, tasteful, appealingly designed. Strong on dining, lodging, culture and history."—National Geographic Traveler Covers all of Costa Rica's hotspots, from erupting volcanoes and white-sand beaches to the cool cloud forests and bustling tropical metropolises. Includes easy day or weekend trips across the border to Granada, Isla Ometepe, San Juan del Sur, Solentiname, the Río San Juan in Nicaragua and Boquete in Panama. As in every Explorer's Great Destinations title, you’ll find helpful information for lodging, dining, shopping, transportation, recreational activities, and special events. The focused and very helpful "If Time Is Short" advice, historical notes, and many maps and photographs make this an indispensable guide. Use it to help you discover all the region has to offer. Includes: history, lodging, dining, culture, recreation, shopping, transportation and more!
This is the first field guide dedicated to the diverse tree species of Panama and Costa Rica. Featuring close to 500 tropical tree species, Trees of Panama and Costa Rica includes superb color photos, abundant color distribution maps, and concise descriptions of key characteristics, making this guide readily accessible to botanists, biologists, and casual nature lovers alike. The invaluable introductory chapters discuss tree diversity in Central America and the basics of tree identification. Family and species accounts are treated alphabetically and describe family size, number of genera and species, floral characteristics, and relative abundance. Color distribution maps supplement the useful species descriptions, and facing-page photographic plates detail bark, leaf, flower, or fruit of the species featured. Helpful appendices contain a full glossary, a comprehensive guide to leaf forms, and a list of families not covered. The only tree guide to cover both Panama and Costa Rica together Covers almost 500 species 438 high-resolution color photos 480 color distribution maps and two general maps Concise and jargon-free descriptions of key characteristics for every species Full glossary and guide to leaf forms included
Reprint of the 1981 Smithsonian edition with a new taxonomy note by Dressler. Contains fine reproductions of the original 95 plates (on 16 pages). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Orchids of Tropical America is an entertaining, informative, and splendidly illustrated introduction to the orchid family for enthusiasts and newcomers seeking to learn about more than 120 widespread orchid genera. Joe E. Meisel, Ronald S. Kaufmann, and Franco Pupulin bring alive the riot of colors, extraordinary shapes, and varied biology and ecology of the principal orchid genera ranging from Mexico and the Caribbean to Bolivia and Brazil. Orchids, likely the most diverse family of plants on earth, reach their peak diversity in the tropical countries of the Western Hemisphere, including, for example, more than 2,500 species in Brazil and 4,000 in Ecuador. The book also highlights reserves in the American tropics where travelers can enjoy orchids in the wild. Whether you journey abroad to see these unique plants, raise them in your home, or admire them from afar, this book offers fascinating insights into the diversity and natural history of orchids. Beyond the plant and flower descriptions, Orchids of Tropical America is packed with informative stories about the ecology and history of each genus. Pollination ecology is given in detail, with an emphasis on how floral features distinctive to the genus are linked to interaction with pollinators. This book also features information on medicinal and commercial uses, notes on the discoverers, and relevant historical data. The easy-to-use identification system permits quick recognition of the most common orchid groups in Central and South America. Genus descriptions are given in plain language designed for a nonscientific audience but will prove highly useful to advanced botanists as well. Descriptions focus on external morphology, and great care has been taken to ensure the guide is useful in the field without reliance on microscopes or dissections. Equally valuable as a field guide, a desktop reference, or a gift, Orchids of Tropical America will make an excellent addition to any orchid lover’s library. Visit the website for this book at www.orchidsoftropicalamerica.com.
An accessible, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide--the only one to cover all the orchids found in Britain and Ireland Covering more than fifty species as well as hybrids and variants, this is an engaging, intuitive and in-depth identification guide to all the orchids of Britain and Ireland at all stages of development, from first emergence through to setting seed. Drawing on the authors' extensive field experience and the latest scientific research, Britain's Orchids uses multiple techniques to help both beginner and more advanced orchid enthusiasts to identify even the trickiest plants. The book is beautifully illustrated with plates by talented artist Sarah Stribbling as well as more than 1,000 detailed, instructive and evocative photographs by the authors. Orchids have long fired the imagination with their beauty and rarity. This book aims to ignite or increase your passion for these special plants and for the conservation of their habitats, from remote mountaintops to urban wild spaces. The first book to cover all the species, subspecies and varieties, as well as hybrids, at all stages of development Lavishly illustrated with close to 100 stunning plates drawn to scale to show key identification features and more than 1,000 stunning photo showing orchids in their natural settings Simple, step-by-step system for identifying almost any orchid Up-to-date distribution maps and seasonal charts showing when each species can be seen in its various stages Special-feature identification keys that can be used on difficult plants
This book is about tropical biology in action- how biologists grapple with the ecology and evolution of the great species diversity in tropical rainforests and coral reefs. Tropical rainforests are home to 50% of all the plant and animal species on earth, though they cover only about 2% of the planet. Coral reefs hold 25% of the world's marine diversity, though they represent only 0.1 % of the world's surface. The increase in species richness from the poles to the tropics has remained enigmatic to naturalists for more than 200 years. How have so many species evolved in the tropics? How can so many species coexist there? At a time when rainforests and coral reefs are shrinking, when the earth is facing what has been called the sixth mass extinction, understanding the evolutionary ecology of the tropics is everyone's business. Despite the fundamental importance of the tropics to all of life on earth, tropical biology has evolved relatively slowly and with difficulties - economic, political, and environmental. This book is also about tropical science in context, situated in the complex socio-political history, and the rich rainforests and coral reefs of Panama. There are no other books on the history of tropical ecology and evolution or on the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Thus situated in historical context, Jan Sapp's aim is to understand how naturalists have studied and conceptualized the great biological diversity and entangled ecology of tropics. This book has potential to be used in tropical biology classes, ecology courses, evolutionary ecology and it could also be useful in classes on the history of biology.