White, Dyer and Sloane's "The Succulent Euphorbieae&quo

[lancer99]

Gooooooooaaaallll!

I've been looking for a reasonably priced copy of this for a long time, and found one just in time to gift myself for Xmas

From 1941, and at some 1000+ pages in two volumes, it's the "classic" Euphorbia reference. Obviously a bit out of date, and it only covers South African Euphorbias, but it's a treasure trove of info, and the basis for more modern classifications.



It's obviously ex-library, with some scuffing to the covers, but the binding is in excellent shape....good enough that I didn't worry about opening the books up and doing some scans.

As expected, there are lots of excellent habitat shots, for example E. stellispina and E. pentagona:





What did surprise me is that there are lots of pics of herbarium specimens, like this one of E. horrida from Kew:



There are also illustrations from earlier works, like this one from a catalogue from 1887:


..and this beautiful (if a bit fanciful) plate of E. loricata from 1785:


Perhaps the book's best feature are the color plates...here are two:




Can you tell I'm excited?!?

LOL!

-R

[hoven5th]

How very cool. While I don't quite share your enthusiasm for Euphorbias, I LOVE old books. There's nothing like immersing yourself in a book that's older than you are. One of my favorite things to do. Some of the info is out of date? Even better. Its cool and really informative to see how people used to view things years and years ago. And even better when there are photos or illustrations.

[eekawill]

I liked Euphorbias since i realized my first "cactus" was a Euphorbia

[Tony]

Good for you Robert, very cool!

[Harriet]

Excellent! The combination of illustration types alone will make thumbing through those books endlessly fascinating!

[daiv]

Hey Robert, those are all really neat shots.

Did the boy in the first picture turn out to be a futre expert?

I find the 1887 illustration quite interesting in that it seems that those species are still the most popular Euphorbia species over 100 years later.

And here is something to ponder - some people here could possibly have plants in thier collections that were cuttings of cuttings that came from the plants used to create that very drawing. Wouldn't that be neat if you could trace back your Euphorbia lactea crest to the plant the artist used to draw the illustration?

[Harriet]

I wondered about the boy too.

Daiv please don't get us all addicted to plant geneology too... I can just imagine the obsessive labels "Aunt Martha's Euphorbia, from a cutting of seedling started by great Uncle George, who got the seeds from..."

Oh wait, I already do that!

[Buck Hemenway]

What a find! Does this mean you won't be able to afford a green house re-build. "Reasonable price" is a relative term, especially when it comes to Euphorbia books.

[lancer99]

Did the boy in the first picture turn out to be a futre expert?

From the forced smile, I'd guess not, rather that he grew up terrified of any plants with spines!!

I find the 1887 illustration quite interesting in that it seems that those species are still the most popular Euphorbia species over 100 years later.

Yes, that was a bit of an eye-opener. What surprised me the most, is that E. lactea crest was known & available so long ago.

What a find! Does this mean you won't be able to afford a green house re-build. "Reasonable price" is a relative term, especially when it comes to Euphorbia books.

It was really cheap compared to most copies I've seen, so a g/h rebuild may happen!

I've been dipping into the book here and there, but so far my favorite part is the introduction. Reading about the history of explorers like Pax, Boissier, Marloth, and NE Brown is not only fascinating, but also makes it much easier to trace the complicated history of Euphorbia taxonomy!

Cheers,
-R