2008 NOMINEE The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Annual Award for a Significant Work in Botanical or Horticultural Literature
"... now we have easier and better access to grass data than ever before in human history. That is a marked step forward. Congratulazioni Professor Quattrocchi!"
--Daniel F. Austin, writing in Economic Botany
The remarkable work of a brilliant botanist and linguist, this critically acclaimed unparalleled lexicon offers an indispensable guide for all those involved with plants and gardens, whether they are growing, studying, or writing about them. Detailing approximately 800 generic names and thousands of species of grasses, including cereals and forages, this three volume set lists all relevant properties related to the main and secondary uses of the grasses, as well as detailed descriptions and geographical distribution. Entries include genus, synonyms, and etymology, as well as vernacular names, rejected names, and orthographic variants. It provides a huge amount of obscure sources of nearly impossible to find information.
Destined to become a seminal resource for those directly involved with botany, plant science, horticulture, and agriculture, this masterly referenced work will also enrich the understanding of any individual in the physical or social sciences who is fascinated with history, the birth of ideas, culture, the art of bibliography, and the evolution of linguistics.
Utilizes a Myriad of Resources
Cites Tens of Thousands of References
The material found in the volumes has been painstakingly gathered from a wide variety of typical and atypical sources that includes both electronic and print media, as well as personal investigation. These sources include papers of general interest, reports and records, taxonomic revisions, field studies, herbaria and herbarium collections, notes, monographs, pamphlets, botanical literature and literature tout court, sources available at various natural history libraries, floras and standard flora works, local floras and local histories, nomenclatural histories, and the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Leaving no stone unturned, the author also culled information from reference collections, botanical gardens, museums, and nurseries, dictionaries, drawings, poetry, journal articles, personal communications, and biographies.
Much More than a Nomenclature Reference
While these volumes serve as the most authoritative and sophisticated nomenclature lexicon ever compiled in this area, it is much more than a dictionary. It offers unique insight across a range of subjects that include the history of botany and botanists, travels and botanical discoveries, the histories of medicine, science, and mankind, the history of genera and species, linguistics, geography, and ethnography. While this information may not be typically found in such references, it's the author's belief that all these details belong to any complete history of botany.
Umberto Quattrocchi earned his first degree in political science from the University of Palermo. He followed this achievement with an M.D., specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. In 1992, he retired from the practice of medicine to pursue his studies in botany across the world while teaching as a professor of political science. Highly prolific, Quattrocchi has numerous political and botanical books and articles to his credit, including those on plants and gardening that have been published in Hortus and The Garden. In 1997, he received the prestigious Hanbury Botanical Garden Award promoted by the Premio Grinzane Cavour for his book Piante Rustiche Tropicali. He received a second Hanbury Award for the bestselling CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. He is a member of the International Dendrology Society, the Royal Horticultural Society, and the Botanical Society of America. He is also an elected Fellow of the world-renowned Linnean Society.
