Seeds of Amazonian Plants

Fernando Cornejo is research associate and field research botanist at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. John Janovec is research botanist and founding director of the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

"Some look like brains, some like arrowheads, others like beads, propellers or puffs of cotton. Seeds have evolved many of these striking features to help them propagate in the wild... [Seeds of Amazonian Plants] will help scientists understand how forests regenerate, how plants disperse, and how the varied species of this tropical region evolve together as a single ecosystem."--Anna Kuchment, Scientific American "This stunningly illustrated guide features an easy-to-use whole-plant approach to seed identification that provides detailed descriptions not only of the seeds but also of the habit, trunk, bark, leaves, infructescence, and fruit of Amazonian plants... The most comprehensive field guide to Amazonian seeds."--Ian Paulsen, Birdbooker Report "Cornejo and Janovec devoted more than 20 years conducting research in the Peruvian Amazon to produce this book, an excellent guide to the seeds of some 544 genera representing 131 families... The comprehensiveness of this guide will provide tropical biologists and informed laypersons a valuable field reference for Amazonian seeds, as well as a way to easily identify them to genus level."--Choice "'Wonderful' and 'most helpful' are the two terms with which I can describe this book in the shortest possible ways... [H]ighly recommend this book to Neotropical primatologists. Seeds of Amazonian Plants will make ecological field work on New World monkeys a bit easier."--Eckhard W. Heymann, Neotropical Primates "The field guide Seeds of Amazonian Plants is a breakthrough for anybody who needs to identify to genus level the seeds of hundreds of common plants in the Amazon region. It will be of enormous use for many people working on conservation, natural regeneration, seed dispersal or propagation of native species, such as botanists, ecologists, zoologists and foresters. There is no other book available with this purpose, and the stunning full-colour photographs will be appreciated by any nature enthusiast."--Isolde D. K. Ferraz, Annals of Botany "[A] remarkable effort--with 750 photos of 544 genera and 131 families, it is going to save an awful lot of zoologists (including primatologists) an awful lot of plant-related heartache and uncertainly. Botanists too will almost certainly breathe a sigh of relief that their animal-oriented colleagues might now leave them alone a bit more and stop asking for help with identifications."--Adrian Barnett, Primate Eye "Cornejo and Janovec present with their field guide, Seeds of Amazonian Plants, a unique, easy to use, and exceptionally well-illustrated key for the identification of Amazonian seeds to genus level. Even if it can only present a fraction of Amazonian plant diversity, this book greatly enhances the efficacy and efficiency of research on seed dispersal in the Amazon Basin, helps to improve our understanding of this highly complex ecosystem, and may hopefully lead to implications for its conservation."--Simon P. Ripperger, Ecotropica "A stunning work, this is a must have for anyone interested in the Amazon from botanist and ecologist to zoologists working on seeds in dung. As eminent tropical ecologist John Terborgh indicated in the foreword--this book 'opens a window onto a new ... realm of forest biology.'"--Sue McBean, Biologist

• Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction xv Collecting and Identifying Seeds xvii How to Use This Book xix Aid to Identification of Amazonian Seeds xxi Family and Genus Descriptions 1 Glossary and Illustrations of Botanical Terminology 149