Plant Systematics by Michael Simpson
This is the seminal textbook to use if you are deciding to take the deeper dive into botany. Plant Systematics is the study of plant evolution, and furthermore is the study of plant identification as it relates to plant evolution via an understanding of SYNAPOMORPHIES. This textbook by Dr. Michael Simpson lays out why botanists were able to tell how closely related certain plant families and orders were BEFORE the advent of DNA analysis, as well as why some of those prior assumptions were found to be wrong. This is a family-by-family, and order-by-order way to become familiar with plant morphology and evolution. This is also an excellent way to one day be able to see new plants that you have never seen before and automatically know what families or genera they might be related to simply by observing them. At present, the third edition is the most current and it is a book that you will use as a reference for the next ten years (at least) of your life.
Raven’s Biology of Plants
This textbook covers many of the basics of plant biology as well as getting into the nuances of plant evolution, with excellent examples of some of the more charismatic and curious plant species out there. It also does a great job of explaining what botanists know so far about how plants evolve and how selection pressures work to cause all the “variations on a theme” and “endless forms most beautiful” that got Darwin all horny. What is an ecotype you say? What is the Hardy-Weinberg theorem? What are allele frequencies? What is convergent evolution? All these concepts are explained, in depth, in this excellent text book.
Additional Texts
It’s always great to be able to support authors by buying their books, but sometimes the cost of self-education can prohibitive. It is my firm belief that any of the authors listed below (unless they’re dicks) would not want anyone to be prohibited from reading their work. This is why sources like www.libgen.is and www.sci-hub.se and other book sharing websites exist. In this case I suggest purchasing a cheap android tablet and becoming acquainted with the idea of reading textbooks in pdf form. A half pound electronic device can store upwards of half a million pages or more worth of textbooks.
Phylogeny and Evolution of the Angiosperms by Pam and Doug Soltis
The Tangled Tree by David QUammen – A Good pop-sci explanation of molecular phylogenetics and understanding evolution
Plant Evolution : An Introduction to the History of Life by Karl Niklas
Botany Illustrated by Janice Glimm-Lacy
Annals of the Former World (geology) by John Macphee
Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon
The Ecology of Plants by Jessica Gurevitch
A Botanist’s Vocabulary by Susan Pell
The Rose’s Kiss by Peter Bernhardt
Flowering Plant Families by Wendy Zomlefer
How the Earth Turned Green by Joseph Armstrong
The Origin, Expansion, and Demise of Plant Species by Donald Levin
The Ecology of Seeds by Michael Fenner
The Fungi by Sarah Watkinson
Biogeography : An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach by C. Barry Cox
Evolution Making Sense of Life by Carl Zimmer
Cacti Biology and Uses
An Island Called California by Elna Baker (a great text due to it’s explanation of ecological relationships even if you don’t live in California)
Serpentine Geoecology of Western North America by Earl Alexander
A Natural History of California by Allan Schoenherr
Ecology of Desert Systems by Whitford
The California Deserts by Bruce Pavlik
Plant and Animal Endemism in California by Susan Harrison (again – great explanations even if you’re not into California. IT is a great case study)
