BIG BEND
BOOKS
Flowering Plants of Trans-Pecos Texas, Adjacent Areas
by A. Michael Powell and Richard D. Worthington, with Shirley A. Powell as Project Assistant.
“Trans-Pecos is a descriptive
geographic term, deeply rooted in
literature, for the region of far west
Texas west of the Pecos River…”. So
begins the tome of Flowering Plants
of Trans-Pecos Texas and Adjacent
Areas by A. Michael Powell and
Richard D. Worthington, with Shirley
A. Powell as Project Assistant.
is identification book contains
everything one could want to know
about plants that flower throughout
the Trans-Pecos region. From a brief
geology synopsis to the soils, the
climates; from trees to shrubs to cacti
to the multitudinous grasslands; this
book contains it all. Flowering Plants
has been in in the works since 1988,
according the book’s preface, and the
sheer volume of information shows
the decades of work by this dedicated
team of plant obsessives.
e first section gives details of
how a book of this magnitude came
to be as well as an interesting
botanical history of the Trans-Pecos.
For example, the first botanical
explorer was a graduate from Yale,
Charles Wright (1811-1885). In the
summer of 1849 he walked (yes,
walked!) with a wagon train from San
Antonio to El Paso collecting plant
specimens along the way. Wright
returned to San Antonio in October,
also on foot, for a total of 1300 miles,
not counting his forages for the 1404
plants he collected along the way.
After an introduction that
includes
the
physiography,
vegetation and types, and a botanical
history that includes more of its
main players, the book is broken up
into two main sections of flowering
plants, monocots and eudicots.
(Don’t worry – the book begins by
defining both terms.) It’s then
broken down further into families,
subfamilies, tribes and subtribes,
genera, species, and some subspecific
taxa. Importantly, there are pictures.
Not every plant is shown, but with
almost 800 pictures included, this
makes it much easier to match the
descriptions with a visual example.
Topped off with a glossary and an
index, Flowering Plants of the Trans-
Pecos comes in at a hefty 1444
pages. is is, however, e Bible for
the flowering plant enthusiast,
whether they be serious or ‘just’
curious.
IN THE SHADOW OF THE CHINATIS:
A History of Pinto Canyon in the Big Bend
Pinto Canyon resides in the
Borderlands, at the “end of the earth”
surrounded by “terrible mountains.”
Although this sounds like hyperbole,
it barely scratches the surface of the
dramatic, long-ago events that
formed Pinto Canyon and those in
more recent times who have tried to
tame it.
Keller starts the story at the
beginning, eons ago with volcanic
eruptions that are the area’s base and
bane. Although Pinto Canyon is
hundreds of thousands of years old,
its more recent history is entwined
with the small waves of people who
have tried to settle it. e time travel
through the canyon’s history slows
down once the nascent country of
America starts to expand; even the
remoteness and harshness of the
land below the Rimrock wasn’t
enough to shield it from the impacts
of westward, as well as northward,
migration and land grabs. At this
point the story becomes more
detailed with the introduction of
José Prieto, “the most enduring
resident of Pinto Canyon and the
person whose story—bearing the
hallmarks of an epic tragedy—
eclipses all others.”
rough successes and failings of
the passing settlers, the reader
experiences the ruggedness and
remoteness of the canyon and the
heartaches—and
sometimes
pleasures—that lie within the
hardscrabble struggle of living in the
canyon. e story shifts again as
Apache Adams, Donald Judd and Jeff
Fort fall under the canyon’s
influence. e prior failed attempts
at taming the canyon and turning a
by David Keller
profit by various means have left
scars, but in essence, through the
introduction of these three men, the
canyon’s destiny shifted into what it
is today.
In the Shadow of the Chinatis is an
outstanding compilation of military
records and archival research; long
field visits, and carefully collected
oral histories. Keller’s writing makes
the narrative rich, suspenseful and
heartfelt, which makes it a surprising
page-turner. Forget about trying to
read it in a scan; its novel-esque style
will hold your attention. What could
be a dry subject is made fluid and
captivating in Keller’s deft writing
hands. Although this time period is
only a blip on Earth’s clock, the
fading stories still echo throughout
the canyon, now held a little while
longer by virtue of this book.
Reviews by Rani Birchfield.
Books available at Front Street Books, Alpine.
10 BIG BEND GALLERIES AND ARTISTS / 2020