Anderson's Flora of Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada

Book excerpt: Flora of Alaska and Adjacent Parts of Canada, originally published in 1959, was the first modern flora of the vascular plants of Alaska and adjacent areas of Canada. The Flora represented the life work of botanist Jacob Peter Anderson who's aim was to produce a flora encompassing all known vascular plants in the state. Included are keys and descriptions for each family, genus and species; small line-drawings are provided for diagnostic features of many of the plants included in the book. Long out-of-print and now somewhat dated in terms of what is now known of the Alaskan flora and species taxonomy, Anderson's Flora remains, however, a valuable resource for the study of Alaska's diverse plant life. Also, there is no field guide-sized reference useful for researchers, students, and others studying plants in the field. As the original book did not provide keys and descriptions to the important willow (Salix) genus, an addendum is provided with summer and winter keys to the willow species known from the Alaska interior. Author J. P. Anderson (1874-1953) resided in Alaska from 1913-1940, before leaving for a position at Iowa State University where he continued his work of preparing his Flora, including a number of return visits to Alaska for additional field research.