front cover of Canoe Country Flora
Canoe Country Flora
Plants and Trees of the North Woods and Boundary Waters
Mark Stensaas
University of Minnesota Press, 2004

The vast North Woods, a land magnificently arrayed in the deep greens of pine, spruce, and fir and the brilliant blues of crystal clear lakes, spans the area from Minnesota to Maine and from Michigan to Hudson Bay. With a little help fromCanoe Country Flora, keen explorers will discover a world full of life and wonder in the plants that thrive in this beautiful lake country.

Canoe Country Flora, a friendly field guide, introduces you to ninety-six of the most common trees, shrubs, wildflowers, fungi, ferns, lichens, and other plants you’re likely to encounter during your travels north. Detailed line drawings and brief plant profiles help you recognize what you’re seeing, while “Sparky” Stensaas’s intriguing tales draw you into a deeper study of the plants’s natural and cultural histories.

Each plant is made identifiable and memorable by fascinating facts, handy checklists, diagrams and charts, and interesting activities that help adults and children learn by discovery.

Use this book as a companion to Canoe Country Wildlife or alone as your guide to a unique North Woods adventure.

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front cover of Champion Trees of Arkansas
Champion Trees of Arkansas
An Artist's Journey
Linda Williams Palmer
University of Arkansas Press, 2016

In Champion Trees of Arkansas, Linda Williams Palmer explores the state’s largest trees of their species, registered with the Arkansas Forestry Commission as “champions.” Through her beautiful colored-pencil drawings, each magnificent tree is interpreted through the lens of season, location, history, and human connection.

Readers will get to know the cherrybark oak, rendered in fall colors, an avatar for the passing of seasons. The sugar maple, with its bare limbs and weather-beaten trunk, stands sentry over the headstones in a confederate cemetery. The 350-year-old white oak was once dubbed the Council Oak by Native Americans, and the post oak, cared for by generations of the same family, has its own story to tell.

Palmer travelled from Delta swamps to Ozark and Ouachita mountain ridges over a seven-year period to see and document the champions and to talk with property owners and others willing to share the stories of how these trees are beloved and protected by the community, and often entwined with its history. Champion Trees of Arkansas is sure to inspire art and nature lovers everywhere.

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front cover of Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide
Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide
William H. Skelton
University of Tennessee Press, 2024
First published in 1992, Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide has been a vital companion to thousands who have explored the 650,000-acre Cherokee National Forest. Now in its third edition the guide has been expanded once again to cover numerous additional trails and the almost 20,000 acres of additional congressionally designated Wilderness in the decades since the second edition. Stretching across the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, the Cherokee National Forest includes much of the western slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains, north and south of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The area encompasses a tremendous diversity of wildlife, vegetation, and scenic vistas of high mountain peaks and beautiful creeks, waterfalls, and valleys. Over 840 trail miles and 226 trails are described and mapped in the book. These trails and footpaths wind throughout this wildlife haven, inviting everyone who loves the outdoors—hikers, backpackers, hunters, anglers, and horseback riders—to explore the forest's natural beauty. The Cherokee National Forest Hiking Guide provides maps and specific directions for all the forest's current trails along with a wealth of general information on its present and past wildlife, vegetation, and geology, as well as a history of the forest's human inhabitants—including the political battles that have been waged to protect it. This book remains the definitive guide to this expansive and alluring landscape sure to thrill outdoor enthusiasts for many generations to come.
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front cover of Cherry
Cherry
Constance L. Kirker and Mary Newman
Reaktion Books, 2021
Ripe, sensuous, irresistible: the cherry tree and its stunning blossoms conjure up many literal, metaphorical, and visceral sensations. We enjoy cherry picking, a cherry on top, and even, on occasion, losing one’s cherry. Cherries have been consumed since prehistoric times, reaching great popularity among the ancient Romans. They have come to symbolize such divergent concepts as fertility, innocence, and seductiveness, inspiring Dutch still-life paintings, Freudian theory, contemporary pop artists, and one of the first food emojis. In Japan and other Asian cultures, the short-lived but beautiful cherry blossoms are important elements throughout art and literature. In this intriguing natural and cultural history, Constance L. Kirker and Mary Newman recount the origins, legends, celebrations, production, and health benefits of this beloved tree.
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