Introduction to California Plant Life

I have a 20-year old edition of this book and quite simply it is the best general introduction to California plant life I have seen. Without getting too technical, Prof. Ornduff introduces the reader to the many faces of California's diverse plant species. The discussions are organized by type of ecology, and if I remember right, two or three dozen different ones get treated. California is a land where geology often takes precedence over even climate and weather in determining which plants grow where, such as in the serpentine barrens, which produce very nutrient poor soils and support very few species, although many are unique to that substrate and are found only in California. Rocky cliffs, vernal pools or "hog wallows," and California's several deserts are other examples, and these geological influences are one thing that makes the study of its plants so interesting and rewarding. After reading this book, I highly recommend Introduction to California Soils and Plants: Serpentine, Vernal Pools, and Other Geobotanical Wonders (California Natural History Guides) by Arthur R. Kruckeberg, which discusses the soil-plant interface in even more detail. Both books are superb and really complement each other, so after reading Ornduff's book, I recommend that you get Kruckeberg's volume, which takes the discussion of the relationship between soils and plants in California even further. Before reading Kruckeberg's book, it helps to have read at least a basic text on geology with a good introductory chapter on igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic petrology, and also basic minerology and soil geology. If you remember some of your high school or college inorganic chemistry that will be of use too, although a little goes a long way here and you probably won't have to reread your chemistry text if you don't want to. :-) I don't recall that much of my chemistry, although I did remember enough of my geology courses to find them useful in reading this book. Last but not least, the author writes with a great deal of enthusisasm and excitement about what is still a somewhat obscure area of botany, and his obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment of the subject is contagious. The book is printed on very high quality glossy paper with a good binding, and overall I think it's an excellent value at 19 bucks.