Originally published in 1960, twenty-five years of labor went into Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest, by the late Robert A. Vines, which describes and illustrates more than 1,200 species of native and naturalized woody plants of the southwestern United States. The book covers Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The author traveled more than 250,000 miles by car, on foot, and horseback. The species described are grouped into 102 chapters, each chapter representing a different plant family. Accompanying the text are more than 1,200 black-and-white drawings by Sarah Kahlden Arendale. Vines was director of the Houston Museum of Natural History, science supervisor for the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston, and Director of the Houston Arboretum and Botanical Gardens and of the Robert A. Vines Environmental Science Center. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, he received his BS degree from the University of Houston and did graduate work at the Universities of Texas, Georgia, and Indiana and Louisiana State University. He received the Johnny Appleseed Award-the nation's highest horticulture award-from the Men's Garden Clubs of America. Sarah Kahlden Arendale, a Houston resident, was a graduate of Sam Houston High School and also studied at the Museum of the Fine Arts of Houston.
