Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora

by Willow Zuchowski

Overview

Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is the essential guide to Costa Rica's native and exotic plant species. In this comprehensive volume, Willow Zuchowski introduces readers to an array of the country's dazzling and diverse flora—from rainforest giants over sixty meters in height to miniature orchids with petals that measure less than one millimeter in length.

Covering almost 600 species from all of Costa Rica's regions, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica includes 820 photographs and 120 black-and-white illustrations to aid in the identification of these plants. Detailed species accounts offer descriptions of the plants as well as a rich trove of information about their natural history, distribution, conservation status, potential medicinal uses, and role in human societies. This second edition—in a more compact size for easier use in the field—adds more than 100 species along with a new section focusing on the Osa Peninsula, many new photographs, and updates on scientific names.
The only book on the flora of the country intended for serious and casual plant enthusiasts alike, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is an indispensable resource for the visitor, gardener, student, and researcher.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501763076
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Series:	Zona Tropical Publications
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.15(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Willow Zuchowski is a botanist, educator, and illustrator who has lived in Monteverde, Costa Rica, for over thirty years. In addition to teaching plant identification workshops, she is the founder of ProNativas, which promotes the use of native species in wildlife gardens.

What People are Saying About This

Karen L. Masters

This delightful guide will be the go-to reference for anyone drawn to the diversity, ecology, and utility of tropical plants. Rich and layered in style and content, it will foster the study of and engagement with tropical plant communities.

Robbin Moran

A beautifully illustrated guide to Costa Rica's common and conspicuous plants enriched with fascinating stories and tidbits based on the firsthand knowledge of the author, a longtime resident of Costa Rica and widely respected tropical botanist. Indispensable for anyone interested in Costa Rican plants.

G. C. Stevens

One is hard-pressed to come up with a list of plants that should have been included but are missing from this fabulous survey of tropical beauty. Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is a real gem. This is a well-constructed, nicely formatted, high-quality book. Essential. All levels.

Peter H. Raven

This attractive book provides a means for visitors to Costa Rica to learn about and recognize 430 of the more prominent plants of the country and to learn about them in a wonderfully exciting way. A 'must' for any ecotourist, and a refresher course about the biology of tropical plants for anyone. I wish such a book had existed when I first visited Costa Rica forty years ago!

Editorial Reviews

"This attractive book provides a means for visitors to Costa Rica to learn about and recognize 430 of the more prominent plants of the country and to learn about them in a wonderfully exciting way. A 'must' for any ecotourist, and a refresher course about the biology of tropical plants for anyone. I wish such a book had existed when I first visited Costa Rica forty years ago!"

Peter H. Raven

"One is hard-pressed to come up with a list of plants that should have been included but are missing from this fabulous survey of tropical beauty. Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is a real gem. This is a well-constructed, nicely formatted, high-quality book. Essential. All levels."

G. C. Stevens

"One is hard-pressed to come up with a list of plants that should have been included but are missing from this fabulous survey of tropical beauty. Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is a real gem. This is a well-constructed, nicely formatted, high-quality book. Essential. All levels."—G. C. Stevens, Choice, October 2007

"This attractive book provides a means for visitors to Costa Rica to learn about and recognize 430 of the more prominent plants of the country and to learn about them in a wonderfully exciting way. A 'must' for any ecotourist, and a refresher course about the biology of tropical plants for anyone. I wish such a book had existed when I first visited Costa Rica forty years ago!"—Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis

From the Publisher