Orchids of Central Spain (Cuenca Province). A Field Guide


Book Description

First field guide to wild orchids found in central Spain (Cuenca province) published in English. Why a field guide of wild orchids of Central Spain? Our Serranía mountain range is one of the most densely populated in orchid species in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, and we are delighted to be able to demonstrate that Cuenca’s well-preserved natural environment attracts orchid specialists from all over Europe.




Wild Flowers of Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (Spanish Pyrenees)


Book Description

This field guide is illustrated with more than 275 full-colour plates. It shows 174 singular flowers that are present in Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (Spanish Pyrenees), with 128 profiles, ordered according to 8 ecosystems, each one containing a larger photograph and some smaller ones showing details of the leaves, fruits, flowers or other related species. They are complemented with enjoyable texts where the plant’s special traits, curiosities, origin of its name, uses, ecology, geographical distribution, etc., are detailed. This is the first guide to the flowers of Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park published in English. CONTENTS - What this book contains - Introduction - Location map - Forests and shrubs - Forests clearings and megaphorbs - Pastures - Hay meadows - Wetlands - Rocky ground - Screes - High mountain - Bibliography - Alphabetical index of scientific and vernacular names.




The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: A to G


Book Description

A geographical encyclopedia of world place names contains alphabetized entries with detailed statistics on location, name pronunciation, topography, history, and economic and cultural points of interest.




Spain, a Global History


Book Description

From the late fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the Hispanic Monarchy was one of the largest and most diverse political communities known in history. At its apogee, it stretched from the Castilian plateau to the high peaks of the Andes; from the cosmopolitan cities of Seville, Naples, or Mexico City to Santa Fe and San Francisco; from Brussels to Buenos Aires and from Milan to Manila. During those centuries, Spain left its imprint across vast continents and distant oceans contributing in no minor way to the emergence of our globalised era. This was true not only in an economic sense-the Hispano-American silver peso transported across the Atlantic and the Pacific by the Spanish fleets was arguably the first global currency, thus facilitating the creation of a world economic system-but intellectually and artistically as well. The most extraordinary cultural exchanges took place in practically every corner of the Hispanic world, no matter how distant from the metropolis. At various times a descendant of the Aztec nobility was translating a Baroque play into Nahuatl to the delight of an Amerindian and mixed audience in the market of Tlatelolco; an Andalusian Dominican priest was writing the first Western grammar of the Chinese language in Fuzhou, a Chinese city that enjoyed a trade monopoly with the Spanish Philippines; a Franciscan friar was composing a piece of polyphonic music with lyrics in Quechua to be played in a church decorated with Moorish-style ceilings in a Peruvian valley; or a multi-ethnic team of Amerindian and Spanish naturalists was describing in Latin, Spanish and local vernacular languages thousands of medicinal plants, animals and minerals previously unknown to the West. And, most probably, at the same time that one of those exchanges were happening, the members of the School of Salamanca were laying the foundations of modern international law or formulating some of the first modern theories of price, value and money, Cervantes was writing Don Quixote, Velázquez was painting Las Meninas, or Goya was exposing both the dark and bright sides of the European Enlightenment. Actually, whenever we contemplate the galleries devoted to Velázquez, El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo or Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid; when we visit the National Palace in Mexico City, a mission in California, a Jesuit church in Rome or the Intramuros quarter in Manila; or when we hear Spanish being spoken in a myriad of accents in the streets of San Francisco, New Orleans or Manhattan we are experiencing some of the past and present fruits of an always vibrant and still expanding cultural community. As the reader can infer by now, this book is about how Spain and the larger Hispanic world have contributed to world history and in particular to the history of civilisation, not only at the zenith of the Hispanic Monarchy but throughout a much longer span of time.




The Columbia Gazetteer of the World: P to Z


Book Description

A geographical encyclopedia of world place names contains alphabetized entries with detailed statistics on location, name pronunciation, topography, history, and economic and cultural points of interest.




Neglected Crops


Book Description

About neglected crops of the American continent. Published in collaboration with the Botanical Garden of Cord�ba (Spain) as part of the Etnobot�nica92 Programme (Andalusia, 1992)







Managing aquifer recharge


Book Description







Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East


Book Description

Orchids have long held a fascination, both for keen botanists andthe general public. From the mania of Victorian collectors to theenthusiasm of modern photographers, this family of flowering plants hasa strange and exotic appeal. Many orchids are beautiful, and some arerare. This complete reference guide covers the identification, biology and conservation of more than 520 species of orchid found in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The detailed text, 1,270 colour photographs and line drawingsall allow the specialist, as well as the avid botanist, to identify the wild orchids of the region with precision. 'This guide is a must for everyone with a passing interest in orchids. I wouldn't go anywhere without mine now.' Birdwatch (August 2007)




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