''The Carnivorous Plants'' is a major work on carnivorous plants by American botanist Francis Ernest Lloyd. It was first published in 1942 by the

Chronica Botanica Company A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

as the ninth volume of ''A New Series of Plant Science Books''. It was reprinted in 1976 by

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...

of New York and Constable of London. Although primarily dealing with plants, the book also briefly covers

carnivorous fungi Carnivorous fungi or predaceous fungi are fungi that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and eating microscopic or other minute animals. More than 200 species have been described, belonging to the phyla Ascomycota, Mucoromycotina, ...

.Matzke, E.B. 1944. Scientific books: ''The Carnivorous Plants''. ''Science'' 99(2575): 366–367. The chapter describing the structure and functioning of ''

Utricularia ''Utricularia'', commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species).Salmon, Br ...

'' traps is particularly detailed.D'Amato, P. 2010. The Savage Garden: 'Lloydie'. ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The newsle ...

'' 39(2): 47–49. Lloyd's book was the most important scientific work on carnivorous plants since

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

's '' Insectivorous Plants'' of 1875.Juniper, B.E., R.J. Robins & D.M. Joel 1989. '' The Carnivorous Plants''. Academic Press, London.Barthlott, W., S. Porembski, R. Seine & I. Theisen 2007. ''The Curious World of Carnivorous Plants''. Timber Press, Portland.

Reviews

A contemporaneous review by Edwin B. Matzke of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

reads:

Professor Lloyd has written a scholarly, complete, authoritative volume—one that will take its place fittingly on the library shelf beside Charles Darwin's "Insectivorous Plants," published in 1873. The author writes with clarity, with conviction and on occasion with a touch of humor. And if, at times, his presentation seems intricate and involved, as in the ''Utricularia'' trap, so is the subject.

B. E. Juniper, R. J. Robins and D. M. Joel, who chose the same title for their 1989 book, wrote: "Lloyd's book is intense, detailed and virtually comprehensive; he combined wit, wisdom and a polished literary style with an insatiable curiosity and a voluminous knowledge."

Peter D'Amato Peter D'Amato is an American author, businessman, and carnivorous plant authority. He is the owner of California Carnivores, located in Sebastopol, possibly the largest nursery of carnivorous plants in the world, and the author of '' The Savage ...

wrote of the book's importance—and limitations—in the June 2010 issue of the ''

'':

For nearly forty years, ''The Carnivorous Plants'' remained the only popular scientific book on the subject, and it remains vivid, engrossing and very well written. Published as World War II was exploding, photographs were unfortunately reduced to small black and white pictures confined to the back of the book due to constraints in costs. Lloyd’s own line drawings clearly illustrate details of cell structure and other things scientific, for this is a science book, not one on horticulture. Each chapter gives a brief introduction to the genus in question, then proceeds to review various scientific papers published by researchers over the previous decades, many by Lloyd himself and other well known botanists. From this he draws conclusions, and often raises many questions.

References

External links

Digitized version
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carnivorous Plants Carnivorous plant literature 1942 non-fiction books