[.ca] Cacti: The Illustrated Dictionary (ISBN 0881924008)

a good solid reference photographically:
I've had this book for several years now and have found it to be very useful in identifying some cacti by their appearance alone, as the book is really a photo album with little text. It can also be used to choose species of cacti that you might want to own because it gives you some idea of their appearance 'pre-buying'. The authors are brothers who have worked well together and that in itself is kinda neat! I can recommend it to beginners and even some intermediate aficionados of cacti.

Excellent pictorial dictionary:
This book provides pictures of most of the small globular cacti. It is excellent for identification of your plants, determining which plants interest you and what those plants in a nursery catalogue look like. It has a short desciption of each plant and its place of origin which may help with cultivation if you know the conditions in that area. It does not cover the columnar cacti or the opuntias so if these are your interest then this book may not be for you. Otherwise, I find it to be amoung the most valuable book in my collection since I am only interested in the appearance of my plants. It allows me to choose which cacti are the most interesting in appearance so I can order them from cactus nurseries.

Most complete cactus guide available.:
So complete that it does not require a sequel. The Illustrated Dictionary provides hundreds of photographs of foreign, local, and native cacti. Since it is geared toward botanists and interested naturalists, scientific names are used beside each species portrait. The photos themselves are stunning and beautiful, at times showing the entire plant for quick identification. The plants shown are admirable, and interesting to look at for a while. Some cacti forms may be so appealing, that you may want to find them on the internet for further information! Intriguing series consisting of two Succulent books and a single complete Cactus guide. The binding is okay, nothing special. That will not matter once you are captivated by the stunning photographs and useful identification purpuses.

I usually like Timber Press:
Pictures in this book are excellent with descriptions that allow for fairly positive identification. Plates are true to color and notations discuss variation in species. Unlike most books by Timber Press, the binding is of poor quality. Still, an excellent reference for beginners like myself.

Great identification guide!!:
This field guide to hundreds of cacti and globular species is one of the best yet. I bought this guide at a nursury selling numerous species. I have 4 in my collection now, and am in the process of identifying them. I have three in the Mammilaria genus, and one completely seperate from that category. This book has so many to choose from so that you will never run out of ID choices when you need them. When these cacti flower it will be a snap to put identification cards on them! Unfortunately for the Americans, these are foreign cacti and we may never see them in their natural habitat, but this book makes them look just as glorious as real life!!!