From Booklist
The strange spiny spectacle of cactus plants comes under close and expert scrutiny in this study of great breadth and fascinating detail. Amateur growers and scholars alike will be able to delve into Anderson's treatise and come away with increased understanding of the nearly two thousand species comprising an extraordinary family of New World succulents. On a practical level, Anderson is an eminently inviting writer who delivers intriguing descriptions of the characteristics that set these plants apart. He also presents brief but brilliant surveys of ethnobotany and conservation issues. While more than 1,000 photographs overall illustrate the extraordinary diversity and beautiful flowers of cacti, the main section--an alphabetically arranged reference--will arguably rank as the definitive work readers will use to examine and identify cactus genera, species, and subspecies. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


From Book News, Inc.
Anderson (senior research botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona) offers an encyclopedic treatment of 125 genera and 1,810 species of cacti, using the classification system developed by the International Cactaceae Systematics Group. Arranged alphabetically by genus and species, descriptions include complete nomenclatural information, a succinct but detailed botanical description, and distribution by country and state or province. Fine color photographs of over 1000 species are integrated throughout the text. Introductory chapters address the distinctive features of cacti, ethnobotany, conservation, and classification. Cactus cultivation in containers and in the garden is also addressed. Includes indexes of scientific and common names.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


David Salman, The American Gardener, September 2001
[The photographs] are superb and will entice many avid collectors.


Michael Clancy, The Arizona Republic, April 18, 2001
Everything you ever wanted to know about any kind of cactus . . . The saguaro of books.


Richard Stone, The Horticultural Society of New York Library
I believe that this book is a monumental accomplishment and that there is nothing else like it.


Choice, July 2001
This book is a monumental accomplishment.


Myron Kimnach, Cactus & Succulent Society of America Journal, March/April 2001
BUY THIS BOOK! Buy it now. . . . It is by far the best cactus book now in print.


Gordon Rowley, The Garden, September 2001
It will long be valued as a source book... [Anderson] has left us a monument that merits high praise.


Arthur C. Gobson, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Volume 77, No. 1, March 2002
[This book] . . . should reside on the shelf of every serious cactus enthusiast.


Book Description
Cacti have a very special fascination all their own. Like the brilliantly colored hummingbirds, the Cactaceae are creatures of the New World. Miniature spiny dwarf cacti less than an inch in diameter are hidden in the arid regions of North and South America; the majestic columns of the giant saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea, dominate the deserts of Arizona. Yet all these cacti, given time, offer the surprising paradox of brilliant flowers, their delicacy a striking contrast to the strong spines that keep the viewer at a respectful distance. More than likely, cacti were among the gifts that Christopher Columbus presented on his return from the New World to Isabella, queen of Castile. The first reports of cultivation of cacti in Europe date back to about 1570. Somewhat later, a single plant of Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus, named after Otto von Kotzebue (1787-1846), the explorer, was sold immediately after its discovery to a nursery in Paris for a price many times exceeding the value of the plant's weight in gold. And the fascination continues -- cactus and succulent societies exist around the world. Despite the beauty and wonder of the cactus family, the last professional monograph of the plant was the 1919-1923 publication by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose. In this new book, Anderson covers the family Cactaceae in an encyclopedic manner, addressing 125 genera and 1811 species. Descriptions are short but information-packed, and the book includes 1022 color photos. The introduction to each genus concentrates on the discovery of the cacti and the improvements in our understanding of them, in many cases as a result of relatively recent investigation. This makes the book a vivid case study of the science of plant taxonomy or plant systematics. 1008 color photos, 6 b/w photos, 3 drawings, 8 maps, 8 1/2 x 11"


From the Publisher
This long-awaited, monumental work covers the Cactaceae in an encyclopedic manner, addressing 125 genera and 1810 species. Descriptions are concise but information-packed, and the book includes more than 1000 color photographs in addition to other illustrations. The introduction to each genus concentrates on the discovery of the cacti, and the improvements in our understanding of them, many of which result from relatively recent investigation. This remarkable diversity is fully described and illustrated in this authoritative encyclopedia, which is both scientifically accurate and readable. It also includes a chapter by Roger Brown on the cultivation of cacti, making the book even more useful to growers and hobbyists, as well as to taxonomists, ethnobotanists, and conservationists---indeed, anyone interested in succulent plants.


From the Author
An Interview with Edward F. Anderson Edward 'Ted' Anderson passed away in March 2001. Timber Press: What first sparked your interest in researching this specific family of plants? Edward 'Ted' Anderson: Contrary to many scientists, past and present, who studied cacti as an outgrowth of their hobbyist interest in the plants, I never had a particular interest in growing them. Rather, I came to study cacti because a project was suggested to me by Dr. Lyman Benson, who became my graduate advisor. I was in the army (as were most men in the 1950s) and was looking for possible graduate schools to attend for my Ph.D. Dr. Benson had been one of my undergraduate professors at Pomona College, so I naturally wrote him for advice and suggestions. He told me (via a telegram because I was stationed in Germany) that a biochemist in Pasadena had approached him to find a graduate student who would be interested in studying the botany of the peyote cactus and some of the related groups. He was willing to provide a fellowship for the study. This sounded very attractive to me, newly married and without the GI Bill; so I told Dr. Benson that I was interested in doing the project. I had never heard of peyote, nor had I thought much about cacti before. I knew what cacti were because I grew up in southern California, which has lots of native cacti. My choice was, indeed, a very wise one. Dr. Alles, the biochemist, ended up financing my entire graduate studies at the Claremont Graduate School and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, and provided funds for me to do fieldwork in Mexico. Dr. Benson served as my graduate advisor, which was very fortunate, as he was one of the most knowledgeable botanists. As a result of my graduate research, many opportunities arose for further study of the cacti, and I have not looked back.


About the Author
Edward F. Anderson is Senior Research Botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona. He is past president of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, a fellow of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, and a member of the Linnean Society, London. In 1998 Dr. Anderson was awarded the prestigious Cactus d'Or, given by the principality of Monaco for outstanding research on succulents. His publications include Peyote: The Divine Cactus, Plants and People of the Golden Triangle, also published by Timber Press, and Threatened Cacti of Mexico. He has also been a contributor to several other books and has published numerous papers during more than 45 years of research on cacti.


Excerpted from Cactus Family by Edward F. Anderson. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
From The Cactus FamilyBy Edward F. Anderson Foreword by Wilhelm Barthlott and a chapter on cactus cultivation by Roger Brown The saguaro, Carnegia gigantea, is one of the most spectacular cacti of the Sonoran Desert of northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States, and its significance to Native Americans has long been -- and continues to be -- of great importance. Extensive studies of this cactus and the people who have used it have been done by Bruhn (1971), Crosswhite (1980), Felger and Moser (1985), and Moerman (1998). There is evidence that the ancient Hohokam and Sinagua, contemporaries of the Anasazi, ate saguaro fruits but also used the ribs from dead stems as roof beams for their stone-walled structures (Cheetham 1994, 18). The Hoholam also created works of art, etching designs on shells, by using saguaro wine that had turned to vinegar (Crosswhite 1980, 53-54). Legends among other Native American tribes in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where the cactus occurs, indicate a long period of use. Three tribes in this region, who call themselves the O'odham, including the Akimel O'odham (northern River Pima), Tohono O'odham (Papago), and Hiach-eD O'odham (Sand Papago), have a long history with the saguaro cactus. Likewise, the Seri of northwestern Mexico also use the saguaro for a variety of purposes (Felger and Moser 1985, 247-248). Although the record is unclear with regard to the name of the large cactus first observed by Anglos, in 1540 the Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his party almost certainly saw the saguaro and groups of Native Americans who "drink the wine made of the pitahaya, which is the fruit of a great thistle which opens like the pomegranate" (Mitich 1972, 119). The term pitahaya was used by the Spanish for several columnar cacti and their fruits, and the name saguaro, also spelled suwarro, first appeared in a report by Colonel W. H. Emory in 1848 on the survey along the United States-Mexico border (Mitich 1972, 122). Today some of these Native Americans continue to participate in annual activities involving the saguaro, much as they have for generations. In fact, the traditional calendar of the Tohono O'odham is organized around the plant's annual cycle, beginning in late June and early July with the harvesting of fruits. This first month of their year is called Hahshani Mashad, the saguaro (harvest) month (Crosswhite 1980, 14). The saguaro is so important to them that the cacti (Nabhan 1982, 26-27) "are referred to as humans....You don't do anythng to hurt them. They are Indians." The Tohono O'odham have been bound to this cactus because of their dependence on it for survival. The month in which saguaro fruits are harvested is usually a time of food shortage, so the abundant, fresh, sweet food is especially welcome. The annual harvest of fruits and the making of preserves and wine precede the growing of beans, maize, and squash. Other aspects of Tohono O'odham life parallel those of the saguaro. Their strategy for collecting water for irrigation by digging many shallow, diverging ditches is similar to that of the saguaro, the shallow, spreading roots of which quickly take up water from the infrequent rains (Crosswhite 1980, 8-9). Saguaro wood, particularly the ribs, is used for a varity of purposes as well. The boots of the saguaro, callas structures that form within the stem when woodpeckers cut out their nests, may also be used as containers.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This long-awaited, monumental study of the cacti is the first complete treatment of the family since the landmark work by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose, published 1919 - 1923. In this new book, Edward F. Anderson covers the Cactaceae in an encyclopedic manner, addressing 125 genera and 1810 species. Descriptions are short but information-packed, and the book includes more than 1000 color photographs in addition to other illustrations. The author's intention was to produce a scientifically accurate but readable book that would be useful to a wide range of readers: students , taxonomists, ethnobotanists, conservationists, indeed, anyone interested in succulent plants. The introduction to each genus concentrates on the discovery of the cacti and the improvements in our understanding of them, in many cases the result of relatively recent investigation.

As stated in the foreword, "Cacti have a special fascination all their own. Like the brilliantly colored hummingbirds, they are creatures of the New World. Miniature spiny dwarf cacti less than an inch in diameter are hidden in the arid regions of North and South America; the majestic columns of the giant saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea, dominate the deserts of Arizona. Yet all these cacti, given time, offer the surprising paradox of brilliant flowers, their delicacy a striking contrast to the strong spines that keep the viewer at a respectful distance."

This remarkable diversity is fully described and illustrated in this authoritative encyclopedia, which also includes a chapter on the cultivation of of cacti by Roger Brown, making the book even more useful to growers and hobbyists. It is truly the best and most up-to-date single resource on the subject available anywhere.

SYNOPSIS

Anderson (senior research botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona) offers an encyclopedic treatment of 125 genera and 1,810 species of cacti, using the classification system developed by the International Cactaceae Systematics Group. Arranged alphabetically by genus and species, descriptions include complete nomenclatural information, a succinct but detailed botanical description, and distribution by country and state or province. Fine color photographs of over 1000 species are integrated throughout the text. Introductory chapters address the distinctive features of cacti, ethnobotany, conservation, and classification. Cactus cultivation in containers and in the garden is also addressed. Includes indexes of scientific and common names.

Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

FROM THE CRITICS

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