The Useful Wild Plants of Texas,
the Southeastern and Southwestern United States,
the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico
Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico are available now. These are the first four volumes of a multi-volume work that systematically chronicles the economically useful wild plants of the region centered in Texas and radiating through the southern half of the United States and northern Mexico. The complete series will contain extensive scientific data and economic uses on over 4,000 species of native and naturalized plants. This information includes descriptions, photographs, distribution maps, and uses on over 4,000 species of native and naturalized plants of this region. A final index volume will cross-reference uses, chemical components, plants, and common names.
Want to see how comprehensive these volumes are? Check out the Capsicum (wild pepper) entry from Volume 3 (***** — *****) here.
Reviews
Review of Volume 1 by Dr. Walter H. Lewis, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri: Economic Botany, Vol. 51 1997:333 “extraordinary,” “a work unequaled anywhere,” “the publication is a botanical gem of the century…”
Review of Volume 2 by Dr. Walter H. Lewis, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri: Economic Botany, Vol. 56 2002: 98 “If an economic botanist, ethnobotanist, or anyone else interested in applied plant science were to purchase only one book a year, this volume would be it—followed by subsequent ones in future years. Unquestionably the series is the ultimate reference for researchers and educators who wish to know how the plants of the southern United States and northern Mexico impact our lives.”
Review of Volume 3 by Dr. Walter H. Lewis, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri: Economic Botany, Vol. 64 2010: 390 “To research and bring together these ethnobotanical data with so broad a spectrum is possibly unique in the annals of economic botany today…”
Review of Volume 4 by Dr. Memory Elvin-Lewis, Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri: Economic Botany, Vol. 70 2016: 208 “exquisitely executed,” “… an amazing amount of detail presented for each species and I must commend the authors for taking the time and effort to make their presentations as readable, comprehensive, and useful as possible.” “… a stellar example of how other regional series should be modeled.”
Cercis canadensis (redbud)