This introduction is, in fact, a very good survey in approachable language of relevant findings from modern urban ecology. It includes well-documented and thoughtful descriptions of the origins, characteristics, evolution, and benefits of plants that establish spontaneously in urban habitats. The new introduction to Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast, however, provides a concise and easily comprehensible summary of the key lessons of modern urban ecology that support these conclusions. These conclusions may seem radical and, to some perhaps, disturbing. On the one hand, this realization suggests that the plants that spontaneously establish in cities are capable of adapting to ongoing environmental change on the other hand, it shows that managing the ecology of urban ecosystems strictly by looking backward is a poor strategy for keeping pace with our rapidly changing environment. These new combinations of species have no analogue in the past and their future trajectories are unknown. Urban ecologists and climate scientists have become more convinced that the continued human movement of organisms to cities, along with changes in climate and associated local environmental conditions, have transformed them into novel ecosystems. It is a welcome event to mark the publication of a new edition of that pioneering book that adds forty-five new species to the plant roster-an increase of 20% over its predecessor. That first edition provided an important resource for urban residents and land managers by giving them a convenient tool to identify and learn about the plants that inhabit their cities. The region includes some of our largest urban agglomerations and suburban territories, extending up and down the East Coast from Montreal to Washington, D.C., and from Boston to Detroit. Ten years ago, Peter Del Tredici produced a very useful and thoughtful field guide to the common urban plants of the northeastern United States. Key Characteristics of Important Plant Families Shade-Tolerance Ratings of the 40 Trees Covered in This BookĦ. Species Suitable for a Cosmopolitan Urban Meadowĥ. European Plants Listed by John Josselyn as Growing Spontaneously in New England in the Seventeenth CenturyĤ. Plants Treated in This Book That Are Included in Dioscorides’ De Materia Medicaģ. Urban Habitats and Their Preadapted PlantsĢ. Pickettīrassicaceae = Cruciferae (Mustard Family)ġ. Pickett Comstock Publishing Associates an imprint of Cornell University Press ITHACA & LONDON To my grandchildren for whom the ordinary is extraordinary CONTENTSįoreword to the Second Edition by Steward T. Peter Del Tredici Wild Urban Plants OF THE Northeast A FIELD GUIDE SECOND EDITION Foreword by Steward T.
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