Wild Plants in Flower \-\- Wetlands and Quiet Waters of the Midwest (review)

In the preface to this book, written in 1978, the late Robert O Petty states that "this volume provides a brief look at freshwater wetlands and quiet waters, something of their past and present, something of their rich ecological and genetic legacy—their special gift of life to the land around them." This sentence is an accurate description of this little book, finally published in 2005 after its conception almost thirty years ago. Its small size does not prepare the reader for the late Torkel Korling's stunning color photographs of wetland plants that fill almost half of the book's 99 text pages. These images are not mere technical illustrations; they are calendar photographs suitable for framing and hanging in a wetland plant portrait gallery. These photographs accurately capture the nuances of color exhibited by the plants selected for inclusion in this book, including the lemon yellow flowers of common cursed crowfoot, the canary yellow petals of yellow water crowfoot, the creamy yellow flowers of swamp lousewort, and more. Wetland architecture is remarkably captured in several of these images. Swamp loosestrife is portrayed in the understory of a vertical cattail canopy every bit as dense and green as the tropical forests painted by Henri Rousseau. In another photograph, the yellow and white flower spikes of golden-club recede into a snag-filled slough that demands immediate exploration by canoe.

This book is obviously intended to pique the interest of a general audience about wetlands; it is not intended to serve as a detailed guide to wetland plant identification. Hence, the species notes accompanying each wetland plant portrait appropriately highlight natural history and ethnobotany. Hence, I learned that sweet flag foliage, while sweetly fragrant, is toxic to humans; I was also surprised to read that this plant is mentioned four times in the Bible. Many other interesting intersections of plant lore and human cultural history are presented, some well known (for example, the role of hemlock in the demise of Socrates), others obscure (for example, the possible role of white snakeroot in the death of Abraham Lincoln's mother). The authors do not shy away from significant biological concepts, touching on subjects such as physiology (for example, the role of anthocyanin pigments in water-lily photosynthesis), genetics (for example, the muddled taxonomy of wild mint due to human introduction of exotic Mentha species), pollination biology, and insectivorous strategies for obtaining nitrogen.

The juxtaposition of photographs and text to highlight selected wetland species is very effective. The authors also present separate text devoted to major themes in wetland plant function, biogeography, ecology, and conservation. These passages run continuously through this book above the written species treatments; I found this to be distracting. For example, text devoted to the importance of oxygen on root function in wetland plants appears directly above an unrelated paragraph devoted to Joe-pye-weed. Also, there are no diagrams or photographs to illustrate any of the major concepts discussed in this separate section (such as trophic-dynamics, succession, and eutrophication). Given the presumed general audience for this book, such illustrations would seem essential to drive home these ideas.

I would quibble a bit about the omission of several key wetland plant groups in this book. In his introduction, written in 1978, Korling states that readers need look elsewhere for "explication of the sedges and rushes and their grassy kin." Given the importance of graminoids in wetlands, why not include a representative grass, sedge, and rush in this book? For instance, a well-done portrait of Carex lupulina, soft-stemmed bulrush, baltic rush, or wild rice would have been just as appealing as that of any other species included in this...