Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America. Volume 1 and Volume 2

NACTA Journal, Mar 2003 by Galbraith, John M

Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America. Volume 1 and Volume 2 by Garrett E. Crow and C. Barre Hellquist, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI 53718, 2000, Vol. 1 - 480 pp., Vol. 2 - 400 pp., Clothbound, $180.00 (2 volumes)

This set of two books is termed by the authors as "a revised and enlarged edition of Norman C. Fassett's A Manual of Aquatic Plants". In fact, the authors have compiled drawings from seven or more sources to make a comprehensive set of the aquatic and obligate wetland plants of the region covering Newfoundland to Virginia to Missouri to Minnesota. The books include most plants commonly found within wetlands but does not deal with the algae, mosses, and liverworts. These two books can be used to identify most of the herbaceous plants that commonly occur in shallow water and adjacent wetland communities. Volume 1 deals with Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and dicotyledonous Angiosperms. Volume 2 deals with monocotyledonous Angiosperms. The books contain 606 plates illustrating 92 percent of the 1189 taxa in the keys. There is also a short introductory chapter dealing with nuisance aquatic plants of the region.

The authors have attempted to make a technical subject as user-friendly as possible. These books are precisely and comprehensively illustrated, and the keys are written in simple technical terms that are defined in a glossary. References to pertinent illustrations are noted within the keys to help the user visualize and clarify the plant anatomy in question. The books include an abbreviation list as well as a glossary and index that include both common and scientific names. In fact, all common names listed in the plant description are found in the index, and are listed alphabetically by first name and also under the group name. For example, Pumpkin Ash is listed both under Ash and also under Pumpkin. The Introduction gives the reader all of the information needed to use the books, and forewarns the reader about unusual characteristics and variable growth forms of some aquatic plants. It is especially helpful that plants that exhibit variable anatomy during the year are drawn to show the various forms and allowed to be identified under separate rules for each of the various forms. The precise detail in illustrations of flowers and seeds of sedges and rushes are a valuable aid with their identification.

These books do not have clear weaknesses other than the omission of plants that may only occur in seasonally saturated wetlands and the lack of the wetland indicator status used by the 1987 US Army Corps of Engineers wetland Delineation Manual (Environmental Laboratory, 1987). The addition of these features would make the books more useful to wetland delineators. There is also room for future additions or format changes. It would help the user to have glossary terms appear in bold text so they know there is a definition. Not all words in the plant term glossary have drawings associated, but those that do should have the page cited as done in the index. The drawings show magnified views of diagnostic plant parts but these appear in a somewhat random arrangement on each page. The user must read all of the captions and toggle back and forth between the drawings and the captions to make sense of the page, unless they are directed to a specific drawing through the keys. The drawing captions should be formatted so that the alphabetical subdivisions can be more easily distinguished. Those pages with two species shown should be divided for improved clarity. Some readers would be helped by arrows to show where the close ups are found on the whole plant drawing. Some sort of scale should be included, at least for the whole plant drawings.

These books are useful as classroom and laboratory tools but would be more useable to aid in wetland delineation if they contained more of the wetland indicator status of the plants, along with more plants that occur on the dry edges of wetlands or in marginally saturated wetlands. However, no book that contains all plants associated with wetland (hydric) soils would be manageable because of the enormous size. In addition, the indicator status of plants is under scrutiny and subject to more rapid change than the taxonomic placement. These books are very suitable for the purpose of teaching and studying about plants collected in areas that are aquatic or clearly wetlands. They are well written and illustrated and will serve well as teaching tools. They are limited in use for keying out plant samples because of their printed nature and large size. Future electronic format editions may prove to be more useful both to educators, students, and wetland professionals.

John M. Galbraith

Crop & Soil Environmental Sciences

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, VA 24061

Assisted by: Brad Belo, Amanda Burdt, and Sue Brown of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University