Managing Editor
By Welby R. Smith
University of Minnesota Press,
$34.95
Smith, a botanist for the Minnesota DNR, catalogs the state’s 49 wild orchids in this 400-page reference guide. Each orchid is fully described, with accompanying color pictures, diagrams and range maps to help with identification. The science of botany may be above the heads of many, but Smith has written this in-depth guide for the layman. It may be a bit too unwieldy to serve as a field guide, though. —Javier Serna