Book excerpt: "More information is packed into one volume that will be useful to a wider audience than any other manual of this kind yet published in the history of botany."--David L. Magney, The California Native Plant Society "A single work . . . simultaneously accessible to dedicated beginners and indispensable to professional botanists. . . . For the first time in one volume a user-friendly flora of the exceedingly diverse higher plants of California."--Mildred E. Mathias, editor of Flowering Plants in the Landscape "Allows amateurs and professionals alike to easily and accurately identify plant species. . . . A product that will contribute in a major way to the preservation of California's unique floral resource. Our gratitude and congratulations for a job well done."--Phyllis Faber, Editor, Fremontia "Sets new standards for excellence . . . and picks up beautifully on the contemporary idea that botanical work should be fully accessible to the general public as well as to scientists."--Peter H. Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden "Precise and accurate, a masterpiece of clarity and succinctness."--G. Ledyard Stebbins, University of California, Davis