Bulbs of North America

North America is home to approximately four dozen bulbous genera. Among these are some very popular rock garden plants, such as Calochortus, Erythronium, and Fritillaria, which have never had anything substantial written about them in book form. Others, including Calydorea, Hypoxis, and Muilla, are not as well known outside specialist collections. The characteristics that make bulbs so desirable in gardens include their great diversity of flowering time, color, size, and form; their ability to adapt to a wide range of environments; and their capacity to multiply and spread without a gardener's intervention. Amateur botanists and horticulturists, particularly those with an interest in alpine and rock gardens, and travelers planning a field trip to choice plant-viewing sites all over the continent, will be inspired by this firsthand account of native North American bulbs.