This second edition provides extensively expanded coverage of North American vegetation from arctic tundra to tropical forests.

Contributors; Preface to the first edition; Preface to the second edition; 1. Arctic tundra and polar desert biome Lawrence C. Bliss; 2. The taiga and boreal forest Deborah L. Elliot-Fisk; 3. Forests and meadows of the Rocky Mountains Robert K. Peet; 4. Pacific northwest forests Jerry F. Franklin and Charles B. Halpern; 5. California upland forests and woodlands Michael G. Barbour and Richard A. Minnich; 6. Chaparral Jon E. Keeley; 7. Intermountain valleys and lower mountain slopes Neil E. West and James A. Young; 8. Warm deserts James A. MacMahon; 9. Grasslands Phillip L. Sims and Paul G. Risser; 10. Eastern deciduous forests Hazel R. Delcourt and Paul A. Delcourt; 11. Vegetation of the southeastern coastal plain Norman L. Christensen; 12. Freshwater wetlands Curtis J. Richardson; 13. Saltmarshes and mangroves Irving A. Mendelssohn and Karen L. McKee; 14. Alpine vegetation William Dwight Billings; 15. Mexican temperate vegetation Alejandro Velázquez, Victor Manuel Toledo and Isolda Luna; 16. The Caribbean Ariel E. Lugo, Julio Figueroa Colón and Frederick N. Scatena; 17. Tropical and subtropical vegetation of Mesoamerica Gary S. Hartshorn; 18. Vegetation of the Hawaiian Islands Lloyd L. Loope; Subject index; Species index.