Kew Tropical Plant Families Identification Handbook

Authors: Timothy Utteridge, Gemma Bramley. 232pp. 244 x 170mm. 2,500 colour photographs, 100 maps. Paperback, ISBN 9781842466025, Kew Publishing 2015. Second edition (first edition ISBN 9781842466025).

The tropics with their lush rainforests are extremely rich in plant life but are still comparatively unknown. Botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have a long tradition of exploring and plant collecting in the tropics, accumulating an unsurpassed practical knowledge of the tropical plants they encounter.

This second edition of The Kew Tropical Plant Families Identification Handbook brings together this knowledge in a guide to the commonly encountered and ecologically important plants of the tropics. Written by Kew’s experts, this handbook is based on Kew’s Tropical Plant Identification course, which uses classical morphology, as well as more simple 'spot' characters, to teach plant identification.

In this second edition of the book, an additional 17 plant families are described, bringing the total number included up to 104, all described in detail and richly illustrated with photographs showing the important identification characters. This book can be the primary starting resource for any tropical botanist across the globe, as well as students, conservation workers, and ecologists who need to identify tropical plants.

Timothy Utteridge works in the South East Asia team at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Tim co-organises Kew’s annual Tropical Plant Identification course with Gemma Bramley. Co-author of Field Guide to the Plants of East Sabah (Kew Publishing, 2010) and co-editor of A Guide to the Alpine and Sub-Alpine Flora of Mount Jaya (Kew Publishing, 2006).

Gemma Bramley is a botanist at the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her research interests are focused on the Lamiaceae and Gesneriaceae families, especially from South-East Asia, and she has undertaken fieldwork throughout the Old and New World tropics.