I'm trying to locate one of the volumes of the many-volumed Flora of
Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, By C.L. Hitchcock, A.
Cronquist, and others. The problem is that I am unable to locate the
particular volume I am interested in -- the taxonomy of grasses. The
entire set of volumes has been published over a very long period of
time,
understandably, and I am not certain when this particular volume was
in fact
published.

The ISBN # is 0295739843 ( I don't know whether this ISBN applies only
to
the first volume, or to the entire set.)

Thank you for any help you may provide,
Kristen Terry

Hello Kristen,

As far as I can see, the book you want is:

Hitchcock, C. L; Cronquist, A; Ownbey, M and Thompson JW. 1969.
Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 1: Vascular
cryptograms, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Seattle, WA: University
of Washington   Press. 914 p.  (Publication in Biology 17, part 1)

This has the ISBN 0295739835

The number you quoted, 0295739843 is for Volume 2: Vascular Plants of
the Pacific Northwest Volume 2: Salicaceae to Saxifragaceae

ISBN details of these books from
http://www.bookhq.com/history/v_100.html

Hitchcock and Cronquist did produce another book which starts with the
word Flora:
Hitchcock C.L. and Arthur Cronquist. 1973. Flora of the Pacific
Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA

I think that the book you want is available on Amazon for $75.  I say
_think_ because the authors are listed in a different order
(Hitchcock, Thompson, Cronquist) and Ownbey is missing.  However, the
ISBN is the same, as is the publication year, and the title is given
as : Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 1 – the subtitle
is not provided.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0295739835/qid=1024657252/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_3/102-4614564-8151325

I did find the home page of the University of Washington Press, to try
and see if the book is available directly from the publisher. 
http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/   However, I was not able to get
onto the site.

You might perhaps also be interested in the following resource: 
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/herbarium/gramineae/wrldgr.htm  WORLD GRASSES
DATABASE
The database contains morphological descriptions of some 9000 species
coded in DELTA (DEscription Language for TAxonomy) format using
approximately 1000 characters.


Search strategy:  on Google:  1.  vascular plants grasses taxonomy
Hitchcock  )I had to work through a lot of pages before I found the
information required, which was pieced together from a number of
sites).
2. ISBN 0295739843
3. Amazon: Hitchcock vascular plants

Hope this helps

---

Clarification of Answer by tehuti-ga on 21 Jun 2002 06:22 PDT

I have now found contact details for the University of Washington
Press, but still cannot get onto their web site.  I'm sorry, but I
also cannot make a telephone enquiry on your behalf, because I am in
the UK.

University of Washington Press 
P.O. Box 50096
Seattle, WA
98145-5096
USA 

Phone: (206) 543-4050 or (206) 543-8271 
Fax: (206) 543-3932 
Toll-free ordering in the USA: 1 (800) 441-4115 (between 8:00 am and
4:00 pm PST, Monday through Friday)
Toll-free Fax: 1 (800) 669-7993 
E-mail: uwpord@u.washington.edu

---

Clarification of Answer by tehuti-ga on 21 Jun 2002 08:35 PDT

Thank you webadept for making that call!  It is very much appreciated.

I've also had a second look at that ISBN listing I gave.  It goes into
a price comparison, and the book is supposedly available from Walmart
at $67.50, which is the lowest of the prices listed there.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=18865&dept=3920&product_id=489063&path=0%3A3920%3A18865%3A18877%3A22039

BTW, if you say where you are based, I can try to find out whether any
of your local universities have the book in their collections.  This
depends on their catalogs being available on-line, so no firm
promises!

Sorry, for search strategy 3, I meant to say the search was done on Amazon.com

I'm in the USA so I followed up for tehuti-ga by calling the 800
number she gives. The nice man that answered the phone verified that
they have the volume.

Great answer.

webadept-ga

The second book listed in the answer separate from the 5 volume set is
actually the condensed version. It has fewer pictures in it but seems
to be adequate. My professor uses it in wetland plant identification
in commercial field work. It's much more portable, much less
expensive, and good enough in completeness for what he's doing, which
requires accuracy.