Update since I started this thread. I spent a couple hours perusing a copy. It exceeded my expectations. The books are physically huge, and heavy. It's not just the pictorial encyclopedia implied by the long extent website...there are over 100 introductory pages and at least a couple hundred more than are like a textbook on the ecology of temperate conifers. With somewhat small text - they were clearly trying to stuff as much in there as possible without resorting to a third volume! Yes, it does skip entries on tropical conifers, but their families are discussed in relation to all other conifers, so its still a valid overview of the entire phylum. To my concern about the quality of the photography...well in some cases it could be a little better, but it doesn't detract from the book at all. Each species is represented by multiple photographs including close-ups and those closeups are probably more important for the work's intended audience. I think the price is quite in-line with what you are buying. It must rank up there with T. Everitt's New York Botanical Garden Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horticulture as one of the epic horticultural titles of all time. If a large format, full-color separation gardening book goes for about $50 retail, you are easily getting 5X the book, if not 10X the book. I have no doubt I will buy a copy, someday, I'm not sure if it will be soon or not. I could spend hours and hours looking at a book like that, and my garden needs hours and hours of attention! I worry if it will find much of a market at it's current price but I suppose that any serious university library should have it and there are hundreds of those just in the US. Would especially appreciate Resin's thoughts if he's seen the work, or anybody else's. (I guess I'm not alone in assuming Resin is something of a big deal in the world of conifers who posts here under a pseudonym...a professor at a UK university perhaps? Since he always has herbarium images of the most obscure species!)

It's a massive undertaking and there are many pitfalls that may have come up to slow it down. I was told I'd receive a review copy about a year and a half ago, but haven't heard anything since. I guess we just have to be very patient and hope it will be worth the wait.

Yeah I was afraid that might happen. I came very close to purchasing, but the Longwood Gardens library is less than an hour away, and there's always some excuse to go there a couple times a year anyhow. Not to disparage the writer's efforts...as I posted in another thread, it was one of the most amazing books I've perused on any subject, period - but books, especially reference works, are essentially an anachronism these days. The authors IMMHO (my most humble opinion) should be negotiating with Amazon for the second edition to be an electronic edition. You can't globally search a paper book in milliseconds. However, I highly doubt that will happen. And yes, it should be cheaper, because the cost is much lower than another round of very high quality printing.

Hi Folks, I have been doing some digging here. These cuttings are supposed to have come 2nd generation from the plant that is in the Arnold Arboretum which according to its accension was collected in China. You can search through the database at the Arnold Arboretum for a little bit more info on the plant. I have 2 specimens of Platycladus orientalis my arboretum. One is about 175cm and the other is about 100cm. I also have 11 cultivars of this plant. There is almost no resemblance to the branching, scale structure and nodding tips and the orientalis. I did look at a key map today on Cham. thyoides. Unfortunately, I don't have a specimen of the species however, I do have Cham. thyoides var. Henryae and 7 or 8 other cultivars. I can't see any resemblance to ones I have. The needles are so fine and lacy on thyoides. Hopefully, I will be able to find the species somewhere and purchase one. I really have it in mind to run over to Jamaica Plains this summer and see this Thuja sutchuenensis specimen they have listed. I visited Dr. James Cruise a retired Professor of Botany at Cornell and University of Toronto this morning. He went to China in 1966 or 68 I forget, with several colleagues on a plant expedition. He said nobody was allowed to take anything from the forests where they were researching but photos and/or drawings and their guides kept a pretty close watch on everyone. However, a couple of his collegues "liberated" some seeds and twigs of dormant plants anyway. He knows the tree but couldn't verify one way or another if he had come across it in his travels. But I found his story a bit amusing. I have another botanist friend who may at least give me some direction as to who can solve this puzzle. He is currently in Venezuela on a plant collecting trip in the mountains. Although he specializes sub and tropical plants he is very well connected. Anyways, I'm going watch them grow and wait it out a few years. One way or another they will be positively identified even if I send them to the lab for genetic testing. Torreya and Resin, thank you very much for your input. Once I know what they are, I will definitely let you know. I will get to the bottom of it yet. Darren