I just bought a book called _Plant_ edited by Janet Marinelli from the bargain book table at a local Borders Bookstore for $9.99. It is a DK Book (Dorling Kindersley) so it is full of photos on every page, ISBN 0-7566-0589-X, U.S. edition published in 2005. It is in the same large format kind of style as _Flora_, _Botanica_, or the AHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, but is only about half the thickness of these others and with a far smaller total number of plants illustrated, about 2,000 vs. 10,000-20,000 in some of those others. However, because of this, the photos tend to be much larger. Also, instead of being alphabetical for all the plants, it is divided into plant groups (trees/shrubs, conifers, herbaceous plants, climbers, bulbous plants, grasses/bamboos, alpines, ferns, cacti/succulents, palms/cycads, orchids/bromeliads, carnivorous plants, invasive plants) and listed alphabetically within each division. Unusually, sometimes a listing is of a single species, and sometimes it is of a genus, often but not always with several individual species called out separately under the genus name. Also, unlike the books mentioned above, each species or genus always has information on how to cultivate it. So why am I writing about it? I almost ignored it since it was in the bargain books table and looked just like one of those other, larger, general plant books only not as comprehensive. I decided to flip through it rapidly anyway and noted that it had a section on bulbous plants. So I flipped to that section and the first page I opened to had a larger than lifesize full color photo of Griffinia liboniana with a half page article on Griffinia! So I slowly flipped through the bulbous section and found articles on: Babiana stricta, Brodiaea californica, Brunsvigia litoralis, Caliphruria subedentata, Calochortus, Clinanthus variegatus, Colchicun corsicum, Cyrtanthus, Daubenya aurea, Eucrosia mirabilis, Ismene amancaes, Leucocoryne purpurea, Moraea, Pamianthe peruviana, Petronymphe decora, Paramongaia weberbaeri, Rhodophiala , Phycella, Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, Worsleya rayneri, and Zephyranthes simpsonii, along with two-page articles on Crocus, Tulipa, Lilium and other more common genera but with photos only of more unusual species in these and other genera. (For example, for Hippeastrum there are only photos of H. reticulatum, H. papilio, and H. calyptratum; no hybrids.) So I had to rapidly flip (I was with friends and only happened to glance at this book at first) to another section and saw Bomarea, Canarina canariensis, Clianthus puniceus, Lapageria rosea, and Strongylodon macrobotrys. So I bought it. It turns out that the book is about rare or endangered plant species of every type and every article begins with a notation on the Red List status of that species or genus and how many species are listed. Not all are on the endangered list, but it seems the authors picked all the most interesting or unusual species in that category. So even though it *only* has 2,000 species listed, they are almost all ones that are just amazing or unusual or *desirable* from around the world. And it definitely has an emphasis on the idea that one way to save these plants is for gardeners to grow them. However, none of this is apparent from the front or back cover. (Front: "The ultimate visual reference to plants and flowers of the world." Back: "A spectacular A--Z survey of the world's plants from a gardener's perspective") In fact, I'd have to say the covers are completely misleading (and since I have _Flora_ and _Botanica_) I very nearly ignored it after looking at the cover text. It also has great stories about some of the rarest plants including ones no longer living in the wild and ones where all known plants in the world are clones of a single species and in some cases a single gender, and seems up-to-date on a couple of species I checked on (Deppea splendens and Cosmos atrosanguineus), so I assume it's got good information on all the other species it lists that I know nothing about. And the photos are typically wonderful DK style photos (if you like the DK style, which I happen to really like). One of the best surprise finds I've made in quite a while and the price can't be beat. (Original price $50.00 in the USA, $70.00 in Canada--my how things have changed in 3 short years...!) I don't imagine anyone knows how good it is. So they're probably available all over this country. Don't know about other countries. --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a