Available From UC Press

In the spirit of the avid desert botanist Willis Linn Jepson, The Jepson Desert Manual provides botanical enthusiasts of all backgrounds with the first comprehensive field guide focused exclusively on native and naturalized vascular plants of California's southeastern deserts. Based on The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California, the Desert Manual incorporates new illustrations for more than two hundred desert taxa, revised keys to identification, updated distributional information, and 128 color photographs. This guide will allow easier identification of California's fascinating desert plants than would be possible in a manual with broader geographic coverage.

As in The Jepson Manual, detailed descriptions and illustrations of plant characteristics are provided, along with information on native versus alien status, habitats, elevation, endangerment, toxicity, weed status, horticultural requirements, and flowering times. Introductory sections on the desert setting and vegetation offer the reader a broad context and new perspectives for appreciating the more than twenty five hundred plant species included in the Manual. For amateur and professional botanists alike, the Desert Manual will prove to be an invaluable companion in California's spectacular Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and southern Great Basin environments, including the White Mountains.

Bruce G. Baldwin is Curator of the Jepson Herbarium and Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Steve Boyd is Curator of the Herbarium, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Barbara J. Ertter is Administrative Curator and Curator of Western North American Flora, University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley. Robert W. Patterson is Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University. Thomas J. Rosatti is Museum Scientist at the University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley. Dieter H. Wilken is Vice-President, Programs and Collections at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Margriet Wetherwax is a Museum Scientist at the Jepson Herbarium.

"This impressive, streamlined new field guide to plants of California deserts is based on The Jepson Manual and is truly a handbook to be carried in the field. It offers new introductory discussions, many new illustrations, revised user-friendly keys, updated distribution information, flowering times. . . and handsome color photos of many species. This marvelous book demonstrates that our deserts are not barren wastes but treasure houses filled with an abundance of floristic riches."—Robert Ornduff, author of Introduction to California Plant Life

"This is a marvelously useful guide to the plants of California’s deserts, clearly-written and well-organized. An invaluable companion to those who delight in the unusual and beautiful plants of these scenic areas."—Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden

"This much-needed volume incorporates new information about the status and range of many California desert plants. This book will facilitate access to information about our deserts, and will lead to increased respect and attention to them. We warmly welcome it."—Jake Sigg, President, California Native Plant Society