Tropical Ornamentals : A Guide (ISBN 088192475X)

Book Description:
More than 400 notable tropical plants cultivated for their ornamental value are featured in this guide enhanced by beautiful photos.

A "must read" for tropical plant growers:
This book should be a "must read" for anyone wanting to grow tropical plants. This was the most comprehensive book about the tropical plants that I have read. It truly covered most of the tropicals that I wanted to look up. Most impressive.Very systematic. Had good information on flowering periods and propagation techniques. More details on growing these plants could enhance this book even more. All in all a very good addition to my tropical plants collection.

Tropical Ornamentals A Guide:
For the serious tropical gardener, this is one book you must not be without. The "Organization Of Information" section of this book I found to be very boring. I did however, immensely enjoy the rest of the book and would highly suggest it to anyone who grows a large majority of tropical plants. Some of the plants mentioned in the book such as Albizia Lebbeck, I had been unable to find any information on previously. I was quite surprised at the large number of plants mentioned that were not common. There were also some plants they touched on that I was completely unfamiliar with. I thought this was great! There are color photographs with each plant description and sometimes there is more than one photo showing various varieties of the plant. This is a real plus if you grow most everything from seeds or cuttings and have never seen these plants. There is a total of 458 photographs. Although each plant only receives a small section, the descriptions do include information such as flowers or fruit, propagation, leaves and plant type. It also gives the common name of the plant and the index allows you to reference each plant by scientific name or common name. Overall, I found it a highly useful book that will be one of the most used books I have. That's a very high compliment! The only thing that might have been made it better was to move the explanation section to the back! I cannot emphasize enough that this is one book you must have on your reference shelf!

Not for the novice gardener:
I was very disappointed with the purchase of this book. Living on a tropical island I am surrounded by most, if not all of the plants in this guide. I was looking for a book to help me identify plants in my surroundings that I see on a day to day basis. While there are colour photographs with each plant description, it was difficult to recognise plants because the photos tended to focus mainly on the flowering part of the plant. This is especially frustrating when one wants to identify a tree or shrub. The Poinciana, (here it is called Flamboyant) is an unmistakeable tree with flame red floweres and feathery leaves. The photo shows a close detail on the tree's flowers and leaves. I have never actually inspected the floweres of this tree up close, having only seen it's distinctive shape and of course flame red colour in parks and along roadways. Now that I have seen them in this book, I notice that they closely resemble those of a shrub called Barbados Pride! This could lead to confusion with someone who is totally unfamiliar with either plant! The tree would be easier recognized if a picture of the tree itself was included. There is of course a magnificent photo of a Flamboyant on the back cover but I use this as only an example. No other tree or shrub is featured this way. In short this book is completely useless to me in identifying plants. Everything looks familiar but I'm left with the feeling that I'm sure I've seen that plant somewhere but I don't know what it is:-(

Picture glory for tropicals:
Tropical Ornamentals is a wonderful book for all growers but it is even helpful for Hawaii residents. Especially useful is the cross reference for plant classifications and use of pictures to aide in idenitification.

A basic reference text for tropical plants:
This is a basic reference text for admirers of tropical plants, and was the inspiration for my Ornamental Plants & Flowers of Tropical Mexico. Limited to plants grown for their appearance rather than utility, and primarily grown in the tropical regions of the world, this reference guide includes more than 400 ornamentals. Photographs of many of the included plants provide detail, supplementing the informative text, which gives identifying descriptions of leaves, flowers, and fruit, if any, as well as basic cultivation and propagation advice. The book's usefulness for identifying plants would be enhanced, however, with full-size photos, in addition to the flower close-up shots. The utility of the book is greatly aided by the index, which cross-references common names, scientific names, and alternative names for these lovely plants.