Guide to the Vascular Flora of Illinois

Book excerpt: Mohlenbrock’s landmark Guide, so heralded at its initial appearance in 1975, has now been revised to include nearly a five percent increase in the number of taxa occurring uncultivated in the state of Illinois. Here are 3,204 taxa of ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants. Along with the addition of many new taxa, Mohlenbrock notes where the sta­tus of several taxa has been changed and where nomenclatural revisions have been made. When there is a common name generally used in Illinois for a taxa, he provides it as well. He follows the common name with an indication of flowering time for flowering plants and spore-production time for ferns. In addi­tion he gives a habitat statement and a general comment on each organism’s dis­tribution in Illinois. Included in this revised and enlarged Guide are all taxa known to be native in Illinois either at present or in the past, and all non-native vascular plants that appear to be able to maintain themselves year after year without cultivation. The basis for which every taxon is included in this manual has been verified by the author personally. Writing of the first edition, John W. Thieret, of Northern Kentucky Univer­sity, stressed that the book is “valuable not only to botanists of the area covered and of contiguous areas but also to those anywhere who are interested in overall distribution patterns.”