Thats a vast subject area ... What are you looking learn about ? Perhaps you can tell us more about your interest.

Good Day ...

i realize it's a vast subject. and i know i'm being vague, but thats kind of what i want. it's been a while since i had my botany class for my hort degree and i jsut want a book that touches on the major areas. i don't need details right now, just a refresher course.

If you are just looking for an overview, Stern's "Plant Biology" should be sufficient. If your interest is more horticultural, Hartman's Plant Science might suit your interests better. Both are pretty general.

Peter Raven's Biology of Plants is a great starter text as well.

I'd second Raven's book ..

Good Day ...

Raven too. It'S been almost 10 years after my first botany course but this one I always keep near at hand.

Does the Raven book have a good listing of plant families? I am also interested in a good book on this that shows clearly the families of plants and why they're classified that way.

Now .. your entering into Taxonamy ... check out the library ... there are many ... a good book on plant taxonamy would be a good start ... "Taxonamy Of Vascular Plants" by Lawrence is an ouy of print book but a good one to may be in the library ...

Ofcourse there are many others that are more modern.

Hortus Third has a good listing of cultivated plant families in the US and Canada.

Good Day ...

yes,Raven is a foundational standard text for undergraduate coursework in the field of Botany.For diversity of thought,I might suggest other considerations based on peer reviewed classics...Oftentimes when developing concepts are initially presented to the science community,great effort is made to format these ideas in a lucent,unfragmented style,before the science progresses and specializes in such a fashion that(hard to follow) anachronisms take hold for matter of convienience...Still, one has to weigh whether or not the time and money invested in such works is worth the effort.In other words,are the works considered outdated or not?If this forum is about Botany,well, I know of no complete text that addresses all that Botany encompasses...It would be a defeating purpose if one finds my recommendations overwhelming.What is implied is that the subject is a long term,casual pursuit which must fit in the scheme of our own individual lives....

a few suggestions for consideration:
the original works of G.Ledyard Stebbins: Variation and Evolution in Plants;Columbia University Press 1950// Flowering Plants Evolution above the Species Level;the Belknap Press of Harvard University 1974 ISBN 0-674-30685-0

Jens Clausen- The Evolution of Plant Species; Cornell University Press 1951
>Also google '11th New Phytologist Symposium on Plant Speciation'

George H.M.Lawrence- Taxonomy of Vascular Plants ;Cornell University Press 1951

Merritt Lyndon Fernald-Gray's Manual of Botany;D,Van Nostrand Co 1970

there are others...Again, if we are considering the phenomenon of what one sees out there...one must consider the impact of stresses(both biotic and abiotic!) and whether or not the particular genotype has the innate resources to to cope thoughout the various stages of its lifecycle(What is implied is that dysfunctional genes based on pollen load may cascade and lessen an individual's competetive edge)One also must consider is the randomness of seed dispersal and exactly where a particular seed finds itself:ie plant-plant interactions which may be a positive influence for seedling establishment or antagonistic...
so it would seem wise to consider a good academic text pertaining to plant pathology such as:George N. Agrios-Plant Pathology;Academic Press...and plant nutrition based on both plant physiology and endemic soils:Horst Marschner-Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants:Second Edition;AcademicPress 2002
A perspective that is important to me is that (land) plants are sessile organisms that are not static- google: 'genetic crosstalk +plants'For another example,it is more worth my effort if the study of photosynthesisis is approached from the viewpoint of the interplay of circadian rhythms and the changing dynamics of light do to the impact of leaf canopies...
hope this helps

Fat Hen, there are a couple of good books on plant families. I have How to Identify Flowering Plant Families: A Practical Guide for Horticulturist and Plant Lover by John Philip Baumgardt. It's a good, basic book and not too expensive ($16.00 at Amazon.com). For a more serious book on the subject, try Guide to Flowering Plant Families by Wendy B. Zomlefer.

Shelley

Thanks for the suggestions!

Walter Judd, et al. Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach, Sinauer Associates. This my bible for plant families. The second edition is is the most current.

Brian Capon, Botany for Gardeners, Timber Press, 1990. Good as well as fairly concise -- 220 pages. Light enough to read on a train or at bedtime.

My long-time favorite for plant families has been Heywood, Flowering Plants of the World. It has a good index, so whenever I discover a plant (or food) new to me, I can easily look it up and find out where it fits in the scheme of things. I especially like the exceptionally well-organized info on each family, and the info on economic botany. Nice diagrams, too. It has had 2 editions I know of, 1978 and 1993, either of which is good enough for now and easy to find used, though pricey. If it is revised again to reflect changes in plant families (see below), this will be the one to own at any price.

I also like Baumgardt, which was specifically written for gardeners and is quite concise -- only 1-2 pages per family covered (he covers only a handful). He has good concise tips to help distinguish different family characteristics in the field.

BUT over the last decade, some plant families have been drastically reorganized because of DNA research -- here in California, the Boraginaceae and Scrophulariaceae have been especially affected. Our state flora (the Jepson manual) is being revised and the native plant newsletter (Fremontia) had an article on the dozens of family reassignments a year or two ago. As far as I know, the dust has not settled yet and no one has written a new and revised guide to phylogenetic reconstructions.