Recommendations of well-illustrated guides to Mesozoic plants

[Justin_]

Can anyone recommend well-illustrated guides to Mesozoic and other prehistoric plants?
I've got this:  https://www.whatonearthbooks.com/product/posterbook-of-nature/  which is a good starting point although the illustrations are a bit too cartoony, and obviously it isn't just plants.
There's a short chapter with some quite good CGI-style images in this:  https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Dinosaurs_of_Eastern_Iberia.html?id=yS_dj0P6XzwC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y
but I'd like something to show, for example, a variety of Cycadeoidales or what prehistoric Gingkos looked like compared the the extant species.
I'd prefer a book, but nothing too scientific in the way of lots of citations and footnotes, however if there's any documentary films or websites please include these.
Thanks.

[Lanthanotus]

I second this, would also be very interested, also in any book that shows some prehistoric landscape as in the old Burian or Norman books.

[Newt]

I have been searching for such a thing for a while. I have had no luck. It seems like there's a void in the market when it comes to ancient plant life.


Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which is about the Late Triassic of the southwestern US, has some good plant info and reconstructions - obviously limited to the time and place covered by the book, but it's something.

[CityRaptor]

Not sure how well illustrated it is, but there is this:
https://www.amazon.com/Plants-Mesozoic-Time-Morphological-Innovations/dp/0253354560
Plants in Mesozoic Times

[EarthboundEiniosaurus]

The companion book to the game, Saurian-A Field Guide To Hell Creek provides a really good and nontechnical overview of a Mesozoic flora dominated by basal angiosperms. Another decent one (not limited to just the Mesozoic however) is Common Fossil Plants of Western North America by William Tidwell.

[Halichoeres]

Great suggestions here. I'm going to have to look into that Plants in Mesozoic Times book. I own the fossil plant book that @EarthboundEiniosaurus recommends and I refer to it often. The DK/Smithsonian book "Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life" (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781465482495) is divided up by period, and for every period that had plants, it talks about a few common ones. Some of them are very nicely illustrated.

[Justin_]

Thanks for the suggestions.
Saurian-A Field Guide.... looks like the best of the bunch. I'm seeing a publication date of September 2020. Is that for a new edition?
Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life looks good too, especially as I don't have any up-to-date encyclopedia.
Plants in Mesozoic Times is way out of my price range, especially for something I can see from previews I'd only be really wanting some of the illustrations from. Once the current crisis is over I'm going to see if a library can get hold of it for me.
Common Fossil Plants of Western North America is easy to get cheaply second hand, although I'd really prefer if it was Western Europe.

...... any book that shows some prehistoric landscape as in the old Burian or Norman books.

@Lanthanotus , do you know this? https://titanbooks.com/5737-dinosaur-art-the-worlds-greatest-paleoart/  There's also a second volume and one just on Julius Csotonyi. Lots of panoramas that were commissioned by museums. If it is specifically vintage paleoart you want, this website reviews old books: https://chasmosaurs.com/

[Kapitaenosavrvs]

@Lanthanotus , do you know this? https://titanbooks.com/5737-dinosaur-art-the-worlds-greatest-paleoart/  There's also a second volume and one just on Julius Csotonyi. Lots of panoramas that were commissioned by museums. If it is specifically vintage paleoart you want, this website reviews old books: https://chasmosaurs.com/

Thanks for that!

[Lanthanotus]

@Justin_ Seen that title several times but as of yet had no chance to get a view inside... thanks for that recommendation and link, will definetly have a look and consider purchase.

Thanks to all other contributors too for recommendations aswell

[Justin_]

There is a 9 page PDF "An Introduction to the Mesozoic Palaeobotany" by Auður Agla Óladóttir downloadable here. I haven't checked the links at the end yet but some of the illustrations appear to be from "The Evolution Of Plants" which has previews here on Google Books

[Halichoeres]

There is a 9 page PDF "An Introduction to the Mesozoic Palaeobotany" by Auður Agla Óladóttir downloadable here. I haven't checked the links at the end yet but some of the illustrations appear to be from "The Evolution Of Plants" which has previews here on Google Books

Thanks, that's quite useful!

[irimali]

This textbook is pretty useful :

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Paleobotany/_29tNNeQKeMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=paleobotany+textbook&printsec=frontcover

There are a lot of photos of fossils and reconstructions of individual species.  Unfortunately the exact age and fossil locality is not provided.  So I've had to cross-reference with other sources. 


This book is a bit older:

https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2017/02/vintage-dinosaur-art-all-new-dinosaurs.html

But it does give the names of specific plants from the same sites as the dinosaurs shown/or uses plants from nearby sites of similar age and/or plants with a wide distribution at the time.  There are notes on the plants included for each spread.  One thing i've noticed though, is that a couple of the plant genera shown look different in more recent reconstructions.  Especially the fern weichselia.

This book:

https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Story-Life-Douglas-Palmer/dp/0520255119

Has some nice reconstructions of fossil ecosystems which usually include a few labelled plant genera. 

This blog has a few articles on mesozoic plants/forests.

http://paleoplant.blogspot.com/

Other than that, I use wikipedia as a starting point.  It has entries for fossil formations which sometimes include known plants.  If not I'll do a google search for (name of formation) plants.  Some sites don't have much in the way of plant fossils but some have a lot more than you'll normally see in the backgrounds of dinosaur illustrations.  I've found a fair number of open access papers with illustrations this way.

[Halichoeres]

@irimali, thank you, these are great! I went to buy a print copy of the first textbook you posted and wow, never mind! I couldn't find one for less than $600. It must have had a short print run.

[irimali]

@irimali, thank you, these are great! I went to buy a print copy of the first textbook you posted and wow, never mind! I couldn't find one for less than $600. It must have had a short print run.

Wow!  when i got it years ago there were used copies for less than $200.  I wish all my old textbooks went up in value that much. 

I just searched for a first edition but there aren't any listed anywhere.  The e-books for the second edition are more affordable at least. 

[Halichoeres]

@irimali, thank you, these are great! I went to buy a print copy of the first textbook you posted and wow, never mind! I couldn't find one for less than $600. It must have had a short print run.

Wow!  when i got it years ago there were used copies for less than $200.  I wish all my old textbooks went up in value that much. 

I just searched for a first edition but there aren't any listed anywhere.  The e-books for the second edition are more affordable at least.

I actually did find some first editions for reasonable prices, but given the 30 year gap between editions I figured I'd be missing a lot of updated information if I went for it.

[irimali]

D'oh.  30 years is definitely a long time.  There is another paleobotany textbook, but sadly I don't have a copy so I can't comment on it's usefulness.   This one is from 2018 and only costs $127.

https://www.elsevier.com/books/transformative-paleobotany/krings/978-0-12-813012-4?countrycode=US&format=print&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=usashopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwq832BRA5EiwACvCWsdvIVcB6I0lY9zUIGuPRNYHCC_4GLeKUMpJcyNHP8uuRrqGJmwwR5RoC84IQAvD_BwE

Has anybody come across this one?  Yay or nay?

Here's a good website:

https://www.michaelwachtler.com/en/entdeckungen-michael-wachtler.asp?MAID=173&LG=3&APP=8&NKey=michaelDiscoveries

At least for Triassic plants anyway.  Fossil photos and color reconstructions of a lot of species from various groups.  Some lesser known seed ferns, early conifers and cycads and a few unusual club mosses.  It looks like the images come from books available here:

https://www.michaelwachtler.com/en/index-shop.asp

[Halichoeres]

D'oh.  30 years is definitely a long time.  There is another paleobotany textbook, but sadly I don't have a copy so I can't comment on it's usefulness.   This one is from 2018 and only costs $127.

https://www.elsevier.com/books/transformative-paleobotany/krings/978-0-12-813012-4?countrycode=US&format=print&utm_source=google_ads&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=usashopping&gclid=CjwKCAjwq832BRA5EiwACvCWsdvIVcB6I0lY9zUIGuPRNYHCC_4GLeKUMpJcyNHP8uuRrqGJmwwR5RoC84IQAvD_BwE

Has anybody come across this one?  Yay or nay?

Here's a good website:

https://www.michaelwachtler.com/en/entdeckungen-michael-wachtler.asp?MAID=173&LG=3&APP=8&NKey=michaelDiscoveries

At least for Triassic plants anyway.  Fossil photos and color reconstructions of a lot of species from various groups.  Some lesser known seed ferns, early conifers and cycads and a few unusual club mosses.  It looks like the images come from books available here:

https://www.michaelwachtler.com/en/index-shop.asp

That's interesting, it looks like a sort of festschrift. Worth checking out, thanks!

[Justin_]

Thanks for those recommendations @irimali. "All New Dinosaurs And Their Friends" is the kind of thing I'm looking for rather than the scientific textbooks, plus a really like the drawing style. I just found one UK eBay.

[Totoro]

This is an interesting topic.  I'm curious whether the forum has a place where members contribute images and illustrations for the different eras and periods - maybe by major habitat (e.g., Cretaceous savannas, Jurassic jungles, Triassic forests, Carboniferous swamps, etc.)

Those could be discussed and debates for accuracy, etc.

If this exists on the forum, apologies, and please point me to it! 

[Justin_]

If it is our own artwork, including photographs of extant plants, maybe start a general plants thread in Dinosaur Art. It would probably be useful reference material for everyone there. If it is other people's work I guess it should be posted as here as my original request for guides isn't specifically books.