Field Guide to Cacti and Other Succulents of Arizona
4th Edition Overview
Presented by Thomas Staudt and Peter Breslin
Field guides are an evolving entity. Since the first edition of the Field Guide to Cacti and Other Succulents of Arizona was published in 2015 there has been more detailed awareness of species distributions, leading to new and improved mapping that has occurred in editions 2 through 4.
Also, since the first edition there has been an effort to reach our initial goal of having all the photos taken in the field in Arizona. Catching a particular cactus species with a limited flowering period proved to be a difficult task and some flower photos were originally from cultivated plants. Over the years in subsequent editions this has been largely rectified.
The second edition had 25 new photos and 14 adjusted maps. The third edition had 19 new photos and 10 map updates. We're trimming this down and have replaced just 6 photos and updated 4 maps in the 4th edition.
The most obvious change in this edition is the new recognition of 6 of the 9 Arizona Mammillaria species now falling into the genus Cochemiea. Peter Breslin will be addressing that issue during this presentation. Other issues that have evolved over the succeeding editions include the reorganization of the Cylindropuntia genus and highlighting the 22 species that are endemic to Arizona, as well as including new species as they were recognized.
I didn't expect to be working with these matters through three additional editions over most of 10 years. But that's where we are today, the fourth edition is freshly off the press and will be available at the Feb. 6 meeting.
All four main authors will be in attendance and be available to autograph your new book.
Thomas and his wife Maria have been members of TCSS since 2007 when they, like many of you, joined because of the rescue program. In other lives Thomas has led bicycle tours including a cross country tour in 1998, worked 8 seasons in Antarctica including a couple of weeks at the South Pole, worked two long seasons aboard ship as a seabird identification specialist and for many years conducted plant and wildlife surveys in Arizona and neighboring states. It was during those surveys that the idea for a field guide for Arizona cacti took its formation. Maria is currently the layout and design professional putting together articles for both Haseltonia and the Cactus and Succulent Journal for the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.
Peter Breslin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Desert Lab on Tumamoc Hill, at the University of Arizona, currently working with 60 years of repeat saguaro survey data to better understand what the future trajectory of the saguaro cactus might be. He got his PhD in the evolution, biogeography, and population ecology of Sonoran Desert and Baja California cacti, with a focus on the genera Mammillaria and Cochemiea. Part of his doctoral research continued the earlier work of Bonnie Sue Crozier, Charles Butterworth and several others, who repeatedly found that the genus Mammillaria as formerly defined was not a single clade (that is, not descendant from a single most recent common ancestor, also known as non-monophyletic). He and his co-authors proposed an expanded concept of the genus Cochemiea to resolve this evolutionary confusion. He looks forward to making all of this crystal clear at the February 6th meeting. Breslin is the managing editor for publications for the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.
We are always thinking of your safety and if you are not feeling well we ask that you join us on the internet Zoom presentation. If you're doing well and would like to attend, you are welcome to come and join us for this special in person presentation (masks will be encouraged but not required). This meeting will also be a Zoom program and will be an important educational and informational event you must see. Also, if using Zoom, be sure to log in to win a $25.00 gift certificate from TCSS or choose a copy of the new 3rd edition of the Field Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents of Arizona. Excellent plant give aways will take place at the in person meeting but that portion of the program, because of the recording, will not appear on Zoom. When leaving the live in person meeting, please enjoy great refreshments provided by our member volunteers and also, everyone can get a special free plant offered to you by the TCSS.