Cacti of the Desert Southwest

Rating:
Summary: A decent field guide to southwestern cacti
Review: While the style of this book is relatively light and informal, the book does a very good job of presenting all the species of cacti in the southwestern United States and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts of Mexico. The cacti are organized by scientific name, but common names are given as well. Identification information and short natural history information is presented for every cactus. The large, visually appealing color photos show enough of the plants to allow for easy identification. This book has only two major drawbacks. First, it only provides written descriptions of the cacti's ranges, whereas maps would have been more useful. Second, the regions covered by this book seem to be fairly nebulous; it is unclear as to exactly which parts of the United States and Mexico are fully represented. Nonetheless, this book serves as a very good field guide for anyone interested in cacti.