Stewart McPherson
There's nothing quite like opening up a book where not only the pictures jump out at you, but you can tell you are seeing an expert's life history and passion coming to life on the pages. It's also impressive to have all of the Americas included in a field guide, rather than the more typical U.S. and Canada coverage. While focusing on this one group of carnivorous plants, McPherson gives us an introduction to all the carnivorous plants, including a table describing the taxonomy (Family, Genus, numbers of species), distribution and trapping methods. How can you not want to learn more about plants that trap insects, and in the case of the pitcher plants small mammals, using methods like sticky flypaper, bear, corkscrew or bladder trap, and of course the pitcher trap?
As the families covered in this book (Sarraceniaceae and Bromeliaceae) are also the most colorful of the pitcher plants, this is a stunning book. Equally as stunning as the closeups and landscape photos is the photo on page nine of a former habitat site which has been scraped bare, leaving behind an overturned, large tree stump as a temporary monument to what used to be. Fortunately, McPherson also offers up news and information on conservation efforts, including the role horticultarlists are taking. This book is one we can wholeheartedly recommend.
Paperback, 6 x 9 inches, viii +320 pages, full-color photos, Nov. 2006.
