A brand new book from Timber Press written by one of leading agave experts from the USA, Greg Starr. This book is lavishly illustrated and written in a very easy and readable style . It has some chapters at the beginning covering general aspects such as nomenclature and how best to grow the plants. The bulk of the book is devoted to an A-Z of agaves, individual chapters each covering a species. Apart from the excellent photographs there are detained notes on habitat, descriptions, growth and culture. Attention is also paid to the landscaping value of each plant.

There is also a very useful chapter called Comparing Look-Alikes. Here the author takes groups of three or four similar plants and emphasizes the differences between them, eg.parviflora,polianthiflora and toumeyana and also stricta, striata and petrophylla. This is a novelty for agave books and a very useful one.

Unlike Dr.Thomas Heller's excellent book 'Agaven', which is geared more to collectors in Europe with their collections in pots and generally under glass, this book clearly reflects the american agave scene and includes information gathered during the author's extensive travels in agave habitats.

A most welcome addition to the ever increasing range of publications about agaves and another must have for all enthusiasts of these magnificent plants.