Field Guide to Coastal Wetland Plants of the South-eastern United States

Coastal wetlands are among our most valuable environmental resources, providing such benefits as flood and storm damage protection, water quality maintenance, and vital habitats for fish, shellfish, and other wildlife. In the southeastern United States, over 90 percent of commercial fishing involves estuarine species, and the region’s multimillion dollar shrimp fishery is dependent on the viability of coastal marshland. After years of misuse, coastal wetlands are now recognized as a critical natural resource worthy of protection; both federal and state laws regulate their use throughout the nation. This attractively illustrated book is a field guide to southeastern coastal wetland plants. It is designed for nonspecialists and should be useful to biologists, planners, environmental consultants, landscape architects, naturalists, and students, as well as to the average reader. Intended primarily for use along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts (from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas), it will also be valuable as far north as New Jersey, as far south as Mexico. The book will also be useful for identifying the majority of dominant species in nontidal wetlands along the Coastal Plain, since most freshwater tidal marsh and swamp plants are not restricted to coastal wetlands. More than 250 plants of tidal marshes and swamps are fully described and illustrated, and over 200 other plants are cataloged as similar species with distinguishing characteristics given. Easy-to-use nontechnical keys guide the reader in plant identification. The author also offers an overview of coastal wetland ecology and describes the eight major types of coastal wetlands in the Southeast. He furnishes maps showingthe locations of coastal marshes and mangrove swamps from Virginia to Texas and lists places to observe coastal wetlands in each state.