Best comprehensive book on cacti?

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Stoogle
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Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by Stoogle »

Hi, please can people recommend me their favourite cacti literature/books?

Thanks :grin:
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Phil_SK
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by Phil_SK »

Phil Crewe, BCSS 38143. Mostly S. American cacti, esp. Lobivia, Sulcorebutia and little Opuntia
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by DaveW »

The best and most comprehensive books are getting too expensive for most of us to afford! Meaning David Hunt's or Joel Lode's ones being over the £100 mark. Maybe like the Encyclopedia Britannica they will eventually have to go to cheaper ways of publishing such as CD's or memory sticks if printing gets too dear.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/ ... ublication

Nowadays if you search the web there is probably more up to date information there than in printed books, which are often out of date even before publication, though I must admit I still keep buying them.
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KarlR
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by KarlR »

Lodé's and Hunt's tomes are certainly comprehensive and, while the former is more up to date and I do enjoy it, I think I would go with Hunt's if I had to choose only one, simply for the descriptions in it. They're expensive but if you can afford both, why not.

Although somewhat outdated, I have a fondness for Rod and Ken Preston-Mafham's Cacti: The Illustrated Dictionary, and I think Cullman, Götz and Gröner's The Encyclopedia of Cacti from the eighties is also very good. The former deals with globular cacti, while the latter contains a great amount of useful cultivation information on just about every topic. Both books are very cheap as an added bonus.

Then there are plenty of other excellent books and tomes that deal with more narrow topics. Benson's tome on cacti from the US is fantastic, but only if your main interest is cacti from that country (though it's still quite expensive). The cactus file handbook series has some great entries (particularly by John Pilbeam), and Graham Charles' book on Gymnos is terrific.

Depends what you're after really.
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by ralphrmartin »

Depends what you want. Are you after an identification / description / picture book? Or a book about cultivation? Or a book that covers both?

Also, just cacti? Or succulents as well?

If you let us know, we can give some recommendations.
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by Stoogle »

Hi,

Thanks for your link to the other thread - I read through that.

Which books are you referring to Dave? I Googled David Hunt and Joel Lode although was uncertain which books you meant.

I was after a total encyclopedia of all things cacti. I also have a special interest in lophophora.
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by ralphrmartin »

This is a pretty good book, covering a wide range of topics:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-C ... 0906670373

It may not illustrate as many plants as some of the other books, but it has a lot more information in it than the picture books, or list-of-plant books.
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by Keith H »

ralphrmartin wrote:This is a pretty good book, covering a wide range of topics:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encyclopedia-C ... 0906670373

It may not illustrate as many plants as some of the other books, but it has a lot more information in it than the picture books, or list-of-plant books.
A second or third for Ralph's recommendation, I was given a copy for Christmas in the late 80's. it is often looked at for those 'can't see the wood for the trees' on the internet moments.
Regards Keith.

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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by DaveW »

The new Cactus Lexicon, the two volume work is now out of print but sometimes available secondhand Stoogle.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Lexicon- ... 0953813460

http://www.newcactuslexicon.org/

There is a smaller single volume version which is just the pictures without the plant descriptions.

http://keithsplantbooks.co.uk/details.a ... or=Hunt+ed

I have even seen free downloads of the New Cactus Lexicon offered online if you Google for them, but never tried them as I have the books themselves.

Joel Lode's book:-

https://cactus-aventures.com/Taxonomy_o ... e_ENG.html

If you are interested in Lophophora these is a good 3 part series of articles here on the Web:-

http://www.lophophora.info/Stalking%20t ... rt%201.pdf

http://www.lophophora.info/Stalking%20t ... rt%202.pdf

http://www.lophophora.info/Stalking%20t ... rt%203.pdf

The other Lophophora discovered since the above is Lophophora alberto-vojtechii, the smallest Lophophora, but I cant find the original article now.

but see here:-

http://sacredcacti.com/blog/lophophoras/
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Re: Best comprehensive book on cacti?

Post by TS Hakansson »

Kaktusy has a special issue about lophophora, may Keith Larkin could sell you one.
Growing mostly globular,smallgrowing cacti north of Stockholm
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