Conifers Around the World

Please note, this two volume set of books is a very heavy item, over 8 kg and will be delivered by courier. Customer outside of the UK should ask for a quotation for delivery as we may be able to offer a better price than shown on the delivery option pages.

This extensive work is the product of over 30 years effort by the authors in collaboration with conifer enthusiasts worldwide and it should appeal to a wide variety of readers.

The work is not primarily taxonomic in nature, although reviewers have noted it’s professional treatment in this respect, nor does it attempt to be completely encyclopaedic, the authors felt it was more important to emphasize the range of diversity that conifers can embrace. Nevertheless, 500 or so species of conifers from the temperate regions of the world are included including several that have not been previously described.

An illustrated introduction to conifers and the regions to which they are native is followed by a chapter on the 7 conifer families and 56 genera discussed in the book, containing about 1300 detail drawings including an essay on the pollen cones of each genus.

The species plates are arranged geographically into 11 regions, each containing three to five detail photos that highlight the species’ most characteristic features and one image showing the tree(s) growing in the wild. A brief text accompanying each plate provides essential descriptive and historical information. Subspecies and variaties are included, as are common and local plant names (in addition to English and Latin).
(The Appendix in Volume 2 contains images and very short descriptions of 28 additional conifer taxa.)

Additional features include: 175 habitat photographs, 646 color photographs of in situ tree bark, 474 distribution maps.

Foresters and horticulturists will find pictures of trees they know mostly from cultivation and can see, for perhaps the first time, how mature specimens appear in the wild and how they differ from habitat to habitat.