From Gunnerales to Oxalidales: A Textbook of Flowering Plant Families

The investigation of biodiversity, particularly in the ‘hotspots’, begins with the identification of living objects – the animals, fungi, and plants comprising the ecosystem. In the field conditions, it is important to reveal the attribution of the object to a taxon of higher level – to one or another family (this identification is later checked in the lab and can be corrected). This book describes for the first time in details morphological characters of all modern angiosperm families both in a wide sense (according to newest molecular data) and narrow sense (infrafamilial ‘morphological groups’). Among them are such large and important families as the pea or bean family (Fabaceae, or Leguminosae), the rose family (Rosaceae), the beech family (Fagaceae), the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), the staff-vine or bittersweet family (Celastraceae), as well as many families which include world famous ornamental plants – the paeony family (Paeoniaceae), the witch-hazel family (Hamamelidaceae), the begonia family (Begoniaceae), and so on. The book is illustrated with original photos, which show the principal morphological characters of the overwhelming majority of families of flowering plants which are important for their identification. This book will be interesting for taxonomists and phylogeneticists, evolutionary biologists, practicing nature conservationists, as well as for students specializing in various fields of plant sciences.