World economic plants : a standard reference /

This second edition by Wiersema (USDA) features over 12,000 important commercial vascular plants from around the world, including approximately 2,700 new plants added since the first edition (CH, Oct'99, 37-0681). Not only will readers find useful plants such as marigolds and corn, they will also discover plants that have a negative economic impact, including noxious weeds and poisonous species. To help users interpret the entries, fully labeled examples are included. Entries provide a wealth of information such as preferred common names in multiple languages, geographical areas and regions, economic impact subclass, and synonymy. For economic impact and geographical distribution, specialized tables are included for clarification. An extensive "references cited" list details the origin of most of the compiled information. In itself this work acts as a type of compilation of the various items. Much of the information is gathered from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) of the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). The bulk of the work is the actual catalog of economic plants, followed by indexes of common names in non-English languages. This work would be beneficial to multilingual researchers or researchers working in culturally diverse departments. As a reference intended for experts, it has a place in agronomy, agriculture, botany, and specialized economic libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. Research institutions supporting graduate students and researchers/faculty. J. Clemons State University of New York-ESF