Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block, illustrations by Anna Anisko
1,040 pages, 2,645 line drawings, 4 maps, $65.00

Spring is here and so is “The Plants of Pennsylvania,” a major new reference book compiled, written and illustrated by key staff members of the University’s own Morris Arboretum, the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The book by Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy A. Block, with illustrations by Anna Anisko, provides a means of positively identifying the more than 3,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and gymnosperms native or naturalized in the Keystone State.

More than one-third of the plants described in this comprehensive manual are immigrants from other states or countries. The aquatic mudmat of New Zealand, for example, thrives in Lake Galena, Bucks County. The authors suggest that this odd species probably arrived through fish tank water dumped into the lake.

The manual — the first of its kind for the state in nearly 100 years — includes keys to families, genera and species; extensive diagnostic illustrations; scientific and common names; data on distribution ranges; relative frequency; rare and endangered species; blooming and fruiting periods; taxonomic notes; and an illustrated glossary. The drawings and descriptions were derived from examining actual specimens collected within the state.

Ann Fowler Rhoads is director of botany at the Arboretum as well as adjunct professor of biology; Timothy A. Block is assistant director of botany; and Anna Anisko is the Arboretum’s botanical illustrator.

“The Plants of Pennsylvania” is an authoritative, accessible guide to Pennsylvania’s plant life.

—University of Pennsylvania Press

The authors will discuss this book at the Arboretum’s Widener Visitor Center May 17. See “What’s On.”