What's in My Botany Books

First, I would like to update everyone that I'm no longer an Amazon Affiliate.

I cancelled my entire Amazon account last night after seeing news items about their invasive "About You" page and the new glasses their delivery drivers will be wearing to take constant photos of the path to your front door (that you cannot opt out of) which they can then use to train their humanoid delivery robots. This means that while in the past I spent a lot of time tracking down Amazon links to the specific books I was recommending, I will no longer be supplying links to purchase materials. I get most of my curriculum things used on eBay anyway, but Amazon was so pervasive that I felt those links were actually helpful to people. Now that so many people are boycotting Amazon, there's no reason for me to take the time.

End rant.

Instead of using a prepared Botany curriculum with a specifically laid out scope & sequence, we are just doing plants as they come onto our radar. They drop nuts, bear fruit, change colors, open flowers, give us a rash, etc. And we want to learn about them!

This means I need to look at my Botany books in a new light, and simply note which plants are covered in each. When we choose a plant, I can go to this blog post and hit "Find" to see if I have any resources for it.

The Burgess Book of Nature Lore
by Thornton W. Burgess

chapter 3
"Tommy's Insect Soup" - pitcher plant

I also wrote up a 2023 blog post detailing the Bloodthirsty Plants series.

Animal and Plant Anatomy
11 volume encyclopedia

vol. 1 - apple tree

vol. 2 - diatom, fern

vol. 4 - hawkmoth, honeybee

vol. 6 - marsh grass, mushroom, orchid

vol. 7 - potato

vol. 8 - saguaro cactus, seaweed, sequoia

vol. 10 - Venus flytrap, weevil

Diatoms and mushrooms are not plants, but we may end up talking about them and why they are not plants, so I want to remember that they're included. The hawkmoth and honeybee are pollinators; the weevil is a pest.

Drawing from the Book of Nature
by Dennis Klocek

chapter 11, "The Leaf"

11.1 - pinnate & lanceolate (willow), cordate (violet, morning glory)
11.2 - round or lobe-shaped (mallow), dentate (nettle)
11.3 - white oak, vetch, clover, cranesbill, carrot

chapter 12 - "Algae, Fungi, Lichen, Ferns"

12.1 - algae (bull kelp, fucus "rockweed")
12.3 - fern, horsetail

chapter 13 - "Higher Plants"

13.1 - bean, pussy willow
13.2 - plum - a perfect flower
13.3 - conifer (pine)
13.4 - tree growth
13.5 - venation (sycamore, maple, willow, poplar, birch)
13.6 - foliage shading
13.7 - live oak
13.8 - cottonwood
13.9 - birch
13.10 - fir
13.11 - apple

chapter 14 - "The Flowering Plants"

14.1 - shepherd's purse, cranesbill, storksbill
14.2 - crucifer (radish, burnip, mustard, cabbage, broccoli)
14.3 - bulbs (narcissus, jonquil, daffodil, crocus, amaryllis)
14.4 - rose
14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9 - grasses (oat)
14.10 - legumes (peas, lentils, peanuts, beans)
14.11 - composites (sunflower, zinnia)

New Eyes for Plants: A Workbook for Observing and Drawing Plants
Margaret Colquhoun & Axel Ewald

an absolutely lovely book of seasonal art lessons!

chapter 1 - Late Autumn
potato, beech, groundsel, rose

chapter 2 - Winter
iceflowers, hogweed, oak

chapter 3 - Early Spring
snowdrop, horse chestnut, beech, tulip, daffodil, groundsel

chapter 4 - Late Spring / Early Summer
broad bean, sunflower, groundsel, cuckoo flower, musk mallow, charlock

chapter 5 - Midsummer
chamomile, peony, sow thistle, dog-rose, creeping buttercup, columbine

chapter 6 - Early Autumn
apple, beech, horse chestnut, wild cherry, vetch, buttercup, rose

chapter 7

yarrow, chrysanthemum, bramble, hawthorn

metamorphosis within the Brassica family:
Brussels sprout, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi

metamorphosis within the Rose familiy:
apple, rosehip, strawberry, blackberry, cherry

For my notes doing this block using Thomas Elpel's books, see Resources & Presentation Order for Plant Families. In that 2021 block I focused on Shanleya's Quest & Shanleya's Quest 2: Botany Adventure at the Fallen Tree