Plant Life of Kentucky, An Illustrated Guide to the Vascular Flora

By Ronald L. Jones

Plant Life of Kentucky is the first comprehensive guide to all the ferns, flowering herbs, and woody plants of the state. This long-awaited work provides identification keys for Kentucky’s 2,600 native and naturalized vascular plants, with notes on wildlife/human uses, poisonous plants, and medicinal herbs. The common name, flowering period, habitat, distribution, rarity, and wetland status are given for each species, and about 80% are illustrated with line drawings. The inclusion of 250 additional species from outside the state (these species “to be expected” in Kentucky) broadens the regional coverage, and most plants occurring from northern Alabama to southern Ohio to the Mississippi River (an area of wide similarity in flora) are treated, including nearly all the plants of western and central Tennessee.

The author also describes prehistoric and historical changes in the flora, natural regions and plant communities, significant botanists, current threats to plant life, and a plan for future studies. Plant Life of Kentucky is intended as a research tool for professionals in biology and related fields, and as a resource for students, amateur naturalists, and others interested in understanding and preserving our rich botanical heritage.

Now available (since Feb 05) from The University Press of Kentucky. Call 859-257-4249 for more information, or see web site at http://www.kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Category_ID=16&Group=185&ID=1231

The book is also available at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Nobel Bookstores. In Richmond the book is available at Hastings Books, the EKU Bookstore, and University Book and Supply.