A Conspectus of the North American Isoetaceae

Author(s):Daniel F. Brunton, John T. Kartesz, Misako Nishino, Paul Sokoloff

$35.00

Quillworts (Isoetes) are outwardly simple yet internally intricate lycophytes found from tidal flats to subalpine lakes. A Conspectus of the North American Isoetaceae covers more than 40 North American species and subspecies—many regionally endemic and of conservation concern—and presents over 300 photographs, detailed SEM imagery, and color-coded range maps. With a plain-language identification key and insights into morphology, ecology, and distribution, it offers a reliable guide to these long-perplexing plants.

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Title Details

Inscrutable, complex, and important, quillworts (lycophyte genus Isoetes) have bedeviled and fascinated field botanists for over 150 years. An outwardly simple appearance belies the internal intricacies that distinguish individual species. North American species occur in a wide variety of wetland habitats, ranging from tidal flats to subalpine lakes. Over 30% of the continent’s known species are regional endemics and their sensitivity to environmental stresses has resulted in many being of regional or even global conservation concern.

Long considered virtually unidentifiable, recent advances in technology and our understanding of quillwort morphology, ecology and distribution have vastly improved opportunities for the reliable identification of individual populations. That has lead to a virtual doubling of the number of recognized species in North America over the last 30 years. The more than 40 North American species and subspecies represent a substantial proportion of the over 200 species known worldwide.

This conspectus presents the largest photographic gallery of the critical identification features of quillwort species ever assembled. Comprehensive arrays of insightful and often quite beautiful Scanning Electron Microscope imagery are presented here for every North American species and subspecies. Over 300 photographs and more than 40 uniquely detailed, color-coded, county-by-county range maps are provided. With these and a plain-language, comprehensive identification key in hand, field botanists, conservation managers, and scientists now can now quickly and reliably identify virtually any North American quillwort population they may encounter.

Daniel F. Brunton is a Research Associate at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario. He has investigated and published extensively on pteridophytes in general and the Isoetaceae in particular (over 60 publications). Over 30 Isoetes taxa new to science, primarily from North America but also South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, have been described in these studies. He also developed and maintains the largest known private Isoetes reference collection, consisting of over 2100 specimens.

John T. Kartesz is the Director of BONAP (Biota of North America Program), Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1969 John founded BONAP, which is recognized as one of the most complete and accurate botanical database in North America. He is the author/co-author of more than 120 botanical publications, including over dozen books. He is also the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Peter Raven Award.

Misako Nishino is the Data Manager for The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She maintains the BONAP database of over 14 million voucher and bibliographic references, over million plant photographs, plus over 1,000 biological attributes and relational fields for the vascular flora of North America.

Paul Sokoloff is a Senior Botanical Research Assistant at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario. He is an expert in arctic vascular plant floristics, having conducted numerous investigations and inventories throughout the Canadian Far North. His expertise in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imagery has resulted in the development of the largest existing Isoetes SEM library, which has proven essential to facilitating a comprehensive understanding of Isoetes diversity across North America and beyond.

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ISBN-13: 978-1-889878-80-5

Publication Date: 15 Sep 2025 (SBM 66)

Specifications: 7"×10" (HBK), 120pp, color throughout

A Conspectus of the North American Isoetaceae

Title Details

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