Plant Life of Kentucky is the first comprehensive account of the native and naturalized ferns, flowering herbs, and woody plants of Kentucky.

Ronald L. Jones has compiled detailed identification keys to families, genera, and species. The plant family descriptions contain information on wildlife and human uses, important weeds, poisonous plants, and medicinal herbs, and the species accounts provide scientific and common names, flowering periods, habitat, physiographic distribution, state and federal designations, and wetland ranking. A total of 179 families, 856 genera, and 2,600 species and infraspecific taxa are included, and nearly 2,000 line drawings illustrate the volume.

The extensive introduction includes information on a variety of topics, including the history of the flora, vegetation types, and current conservation issues.

Plant Life of Kentucky is an authoritative, accessible guide to Kentucky's flora, and an indispensable resource for students, teachers, researchers, wildlife biologists, farmers, county agents, amateur naturalists, land planners, environmental consultants, foresters, and conservationists.

Ronald L. Jones, a professor of biological sciences at Eastern Kentucky University, is curator of the Eastern Kentucky University Herbarium.

Reviews: 

"The most comprehensive guide ever written onKentucky's plant life. . . . A useful book for any Kentucky citizen who needs to know what a plant is and what role it plays in the ecosystem."--Southeastern Naturalist 

"A comprehensive state accounting of the native and naturalized plant species of Kentucky. . . . Should hold up to extensive field and herbarium usage."--Huntia

"A book that belongs in the libraries of Kentuckians. It provides all that is needed to identify local ferns, grasses, herbs, and woody plants and to learn a bit about their natural history. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice

"A monumental work-it will serve as a comprehensive reference guide to the plant life in Kentucky and an identification manual of the vascular plants for generations of botanists in the Commonwealth."--SIDA, Contributions to Botany

"Offers a wealth of data. This 834-page work covers all of the documented vascular plants in the state as well as 250 others thought possibly to occur in Kentucky. . . . Jones's volume should go a long way towards bringing Kentucky floristics into the modern era."--Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Sciences

"A must-have for serious gardeners in this region. It is especially useful for those who garden with an eye to native plants and natural landscaping."--Louisville Courier-Journal

"Botanists and researchers have a new reference guide to Kentucky's plant life. . . . Provides details on the common name, flowering period, habitat, locality, and abundance of the species, as well as its more general wildlife and human uses."--Kentucky Monthly

"The 834-page encyclopedia is an up-to-date listing of 2,600 plants, with descriptions, information about where they grow, when they bloom, their rarity, and whether they have medicinal or herbal uses."--Lexington Herald-Leader

"A comprehensive reference guide to Kentucky's plant life, and is ideal for students, teachers, landscapers and consultants, wildlife biologists, county agents, environmentalists, and amateur naturalists alike."--Modern Mountain Magazine

"A monumental and much-needed work. . . . It will remain a valuable and much-thumbed reference for years to come."--Rhodora

"An excellent account of the vascular plant life of Kentucky. . . . More than a taxonomic manual. . . . Jones has done it, and he is to be congratulated for this fine achievement."--Native Plants

"Jones's work is substantial in content, quality, and physical size. He should be commended for the effort involved and the high caliber of the finished product."--Plant Science Bulletin

"Jones brings Kentucky botany into the new century by providing an up-to-date and thorough reference. . . . Indispensable."--Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society

"This is a monumental work and one to be compared to only a few state publications."--Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science

"I have no doubt that Plant Life of Kentucky will quickly become the standard reference for Kentucky's botanists."--Systematic Botany