Flora of North America, Volume 26

The second of five volumes covering the monocots in North America north of Mexico, this volume features some of the most spectacular and showy native and naturalized species including orchids, lilies, irises, trilliums, hymenocallises, alliums, hostas, tulips, erythroniums, agaves, and yuccas. Plants representing eleven families following Cronquist's classification are contained in this flora along with many species and genera of special interest in the horticultural trade or of conservation concern. The genus containing onions, garlic, and chives--Allium--is represented in the volume by almost 100 native and naturalized species. The Chicago native and enigmatic Thismia americana, one of five species in three genera of the mostly tropical Burmanniaceae, is included along with four families (Aloaceae, Stemonaceae, Smilacaceae, and Dioscoreaceae), each represented by single genera. With 112 illustrations and 1,066 individual species distribution maps, this thorough volume has identification keys, summaries of habitats and geographic ranges, distribution maps, pertinent synonymies, descriptions, chromosome numbers, phenological information, and other significant biological observations for each species.