Hortus Third The one essential authoritative reference work to the plants of North American horticulture1,312 pages23,979 entries with description for families, genera, and species10,326 cross-indexed synonymsA large but uncounted number of entries for subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivarsNotes on use, culture, and propagation187 general articles260 illustrations3,293 authors of botanical names cited1,105 glossary definitions of botanical terms10,408 common namesMore than two decades were spent in writing and producing Hortus Third. It is the outgrowth of a program of research in the systematics of cultivated plants, initiated in the late nineteenth century by Liberty Hyde Bailey and continuing today within the framework of his philosophy that knowledge in basic science should be made available to society as a whole. Hortus Third is for advanced horticulturists and others interested in cultivated plants, including horticultural and garden writers, gardeners, nurserymen, landscape architects, botanists, and professional scientists in universities, botanical gardens, extension services, and government.