Book Description

The Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Washington offers a window into the beauty and diversity of the rarest plants in the state and serves as a field guide for people seeking to find and identity these species.Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Washington includes: -317 vascular plants, six mosses, and one lichen -Full-color photographs of the plants and their habitats, line drawings, and distribution maps -Detailed species descriptions, identification tips, and recommended times for making identifications -Current conservation status and state rank -Complete reference list, synonymies, and glossary Each rare plant is fully characterized through rich description of its appearance, reproductive strategy, associated plants, and habitat, identification of current threats to its survival in Washington, and scarcity in areas outside the state. A trip across Washington presents an array of habitats, from dripping spruce and hemlock forests along the coast to arid grasslands and shrub-steppe and sand dune systems east of the mountains, from low-elevation outwash prairies to treeless slopes of volcanoes and granite peaks, from basalt flows and rocky islands to salt marshes and tiny seeps and riparian edges. This book brings attention to the rarest and least understood plant species that find niches in this complex landscape. Pamela Camp is a private consultant in field biology and restoration ecology and former Spokane District Botanist with the Bureau of Land Management. John C. Gamon is a Natural Heritage Program Manager with the Department of Natural Resources. "This guide will be the primary source of information on rare plants for land managers, ecological consultants, and others who need the most recent data on Washington's rare plants. I heartily endorse and recommend it." -Art Kruckeberg "It is axiomatic that you cannot conserve that which you cannot find or identify, and that more biological losses owe to ignorance than to malice or indifference. This is why I take such heart and pleasure in the Field Guide to Rare Plants of Washington. By refreshing the great botanical legacy of Hitchcock, Kruckeberg, Denton and their ilk with contemporary knowledge and nomenclature, enriched by thirty-three years of experience from the Washington Natural Heritage Program, the authors have created a clear and handsome volume of immense conservation importance for our time and for the challenging times to come. What we manage to save of our rich floristic heritage may be largely thanks to this book and its contributors." -Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, author of The Butterflies of Cascadia, Wintergreen, etc.