Cenizo Journal Spring 2010 | Page 20

QueTzal International Beauty Salon & Barber Shop W hitE C rAnE A CupunCturE C LiniC Acupuncture • Herbs • Bodywork Shanna Cowell, L.A. 905-a W HWY 90 • Marfa 432.295.0025 Mon- Sat • 1 - 7 p.m. Call for morning appointments 505 E Sul Ross • Alpine 432.837.3225 Mon. - Fri. by appointment NecTAR compuTeRS Servicing West Texas with comprehensive and experienced support since 2003 800 N 5th, Alpine Texas • www.nectarcomputers.com 432 837 3021 • Support Cell: 432 386 7811 • Mark Hannan, Owner Skinner & Lara, P.C. Certified Public Accountants 610 E Holland Avenue Alpine, TX 79830 Direct: 432.940.9425 Office: 432.345.2276 Fax: 432.345.2276 PO Box 4830 Sanderson, TX 20 Phone (432) 837-5861 Fax (432) 837-5516 Kenn & Becky Norris Broker/Auctioneers schoolmaster@bigbend.net sandersontxrealestate.com Book review Book Review by Jean Hardy-Pittman Lone Star Wildflowers: A Guide to Texas Flowering Plants LaShara J. Nieland and Willa F. Finley, authors Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press (2009) $29.95, 322 pp. 5.5”x 9” trade paper. W hat? Another Texas wild- flower book? Holy cowpen daisy, why? That was my reaction not long ago when I saw Lone Star Wildflowers in the Texas Tech University Press catalog. My shelves already groaned with books on Texas native plants, most of them focusing on the flowers. So what could a new book possibly offer? This skeptic has be - come a believer. First of all, Lone Star Wildflowers: A Guide to Texas Flowering Plants is handsomely de - signed. At almost 6-by-9 inches in size, it’s larger than most field guides and has shiny, supple cov- ers with French flaps. Inside, fine paper is imprinted with elegant body type (Stempel Schneidler, I’m told) and major headings are print- ed in shades of ink appropriate to the color sec- tions throughout. Crisp, high-quality photographs are coated to be glossier than the paper, making them pop. The photos are as instructive as they are beautiful, revealing curious fruit forms, eccentric plant and flower structures and other characters often omit- ted in field guides in favor of perfect floral dis- plays. But the genius of the book is its intricate yet user-friendly organization and beguiling content. The writers’ first task was deciding which taxa to feature, winnowing down the 5,000 or so species that call Texas home to 218 exemplary ones. This is the only shortcoming of the book. For use as field guide, it should cover more plants. Another popular Texas wildflower guide, for example, fea- tures 482 species in its second edition. To be fair, the authors do not call it a field guide. They had to choose, for cost reasons, certainly, between Cenizo Second Quarter 2010 depth of coverage and breadth of coverage; and they chose the former. Ironically, it is also what makes the book special. The plants chosen rep- resent 54 families ranging from Agavaceae to Zygo - phyllaceae. Most are either annual or perenni- al herbaceous plants, some with woody basal parts. Certain cacti, trees and shrubs also receive treatment, and grasses are excluded. Many of the selections will be familiar to native plant aficionados: blue- bonnet, claret cup, gail- lardia, Texas mountain laurel, purple coneflower, Drummond phlox and Texas thistle, for example. But there are many sur- prises – less familiar plants intended to inter- est, inspire or dismay. Consider the lowly goathead (Tribulus ter- restris), whose armed seedpods have long, strong stickers that can puncture bare feet or bicycle tires. Yet dried and powdered goathead leaves and stems may be brewed into a tea that is said to be mildly diuretic and to lower blood pressure and serum cholesterol. And there are other posi- tive attributes. Who knew? Or discover the many chemical constituents in the unlovely horseweed (Conyza canadensis), whose compounds can be palliative or poison, depend- ing on whether you are a sheep or human. “Conyza also is a remedy for meteorism – an old- fashioned euphemism for frequent passing of gas,” deadpan the authors. Notice the humble Heller’s plantain (Plantago helleri), so inconspicuous and seemingly unimpor- tant, yet full of possibilities for the medicine chest. Leaves are high in vitamins A and C and may be eaten raw in salads. Dried leaves were brewed into a tea for diarrhea or urinary tract infections.