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Warning: this is going to be a really long comment!


I won’t be able to help you regarding the mechanical properties of the wood depending on species/subspecies as it is not my domain of expertise, but I can help you get started on the taxonomy (I am currently doing a PhD on taxonomy/systematics, e.g. the study of the classification of plants). I am not sure how much you know about taxonomy, so please excuse me if you already know some of the things, and don’t hesitate to ask if something isn’t clear enough.


The first thing I do when I study a genus/species is to go check it on IPNI (International Plant Name Index). It is a checklist of all the validly published plant taxa (families / genera / species and all levels in between). (But not necessarily the “correct” accepted name, I will explain more about this later.) It is not completely exhaustive yet as it is still being updated, but it is really good for most taxa.
If you type the name of your genus, you will find a list of all the valid species and subspecies names. When you click on a name, you get the references of the protologue (the original publication in which the species/subspecies was first described). According to the current rules of nomenclature, the protologue should contain a description (=diagnose) of the species/subspecies in Latin (or English if the group was described since 2012), and it should refer to a type specimen (the specimen that will serve as a reference for the identification of the species). If you are lucky there will also be illustrations, and a key to identify the different species / subspecies.
Now if you look at Klainedoxia, it looks like the subspecies you were talking about might be considered as species now (but you will have to confirm this with more literature research).
If I take Klainedoxa microphylla for example, the references of the protologue are: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 71(1): 168 (1984) (which means Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, volume 71, issue 1, page 168, published in 1984). You can find many ‘old’ publications related to biodiversity for free on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website. If you don’t find them there, then you will have to look for them in University or Herbarium libraries.
Now in the protologue of Klainedoxa microphylla, you can see that the name Klainedoxa gabonensis var. microphylla is written below the species name in italics. This means that the author of this article considers it as a synonym of K. microphylla (e.g. the accepted name of this group is K. microphylla, not K. gabonensis var. microphylla). The type specimen was collected in Maboumi in Gabon by someone called Le Testu, and the collection number is 1823 (this is how you can find type specimens in Herbaria).
You are lucky this time because the author gives an explanation as to why she considers it as a species and not a subspecies of K. gabonensis, and she even gives a key that will help you distinguish between 3 of the taxa (K. gabonensis, K. microphylla, K; trillesii). In fact the whole article should be of interest (and you will probably find useful information in the papers cited at the end). It was published in 1984, which is relatively recent for botany (even if it is entirely possible that something has been published since that contradicts this article, you always have to be careful about that).
By the way, on BHL you can download a pdf of the pages that interest you for free (top right button). This website is truly amazing!


Going back to IPNI: as I said earlier, the names listed there are ‘valid’ but they may not be the ‘accepted’ names. ‘Valid’ means that the taxon was described following the rules of nomenclature (e.g. the protologue contained a description in Latin/English and referred to a type specimen, plus many more rules that I don’t have the time to list now). But sometimes people describe things that actually already existed, in which case they are synonyms, or you can have species that become subspecies (and vice-versa). You will have to find out for sure which are the current accepted names of the taxa you are interested in (e.g. in your case whether they are distinct species or subspecies of K. gabonensis). Basically the rule for this is that the most recent publication (a revision, a Flora, an article) is considered as right. This may seem trivial and arduous but it is really important to know for sure how to define and differentiate what you are working on, especially if you want to see if there are differences between the groups.

You will have to do the same research for all your species/subspecies of interest, it can take quite a lot of time!


Now, you have a written description of your species/subspecies, but you really need to see the plants to understand them fully. You can find high resolution scans of herbarium specimens on Jstore Global Plants. Unfortunately, the high res images are only available if you are working in an affiliated institution, otherwise you will only have access to the information regarding the specimens. And you have to be careful with Jstore, because the specimens are displayed under the name written on the specimen itself, the identification is not always checked by a specialist and there are a lot of misidentified specimens and invalid names in there.
What I would recommend is to try to go and visit Herbaria yourself. Usually you will need to request permission to visit (the procedure depends on the Herbarium) and you will then be hosted by someone working on the Family or Order you are interested in (in your case, the Order is Malpighiales and the Family is Irvingiaceae). There may not be specialists everywhere, but they will be able to at least point you in the right direction.
In Germany I know there is a Herbarium in Berlin and Hamburg but I have never visited them. Some of the biggest Herbaria in Europe are Paris (MNHN), Kew, Leiden and Geneva. They often have catalogues online that you can check in order to see if they have specimens that could interest you (for example, here is the one for Paris).
They also give the contact details and procedures for visits.

If you are lucky there may be living specimens in botanic gardens too.


I would also recommend trying to get in touch with people who have published on Klainedoxa if possible, they will have up to date information about it! The best thing to do would be to get in touch with people in Cameroon, (try local guides or Universities with a Botany Department).

Now I think I will stop here because I could write about taxonomy for hours, but hopefully it will help you to get started. I hope this wasn’t too confusing, feel free to PM me with more questions, or if you want references to general books and articles about taxonomy and plant identification.

TLDR: Start by finding out what the valid and accepted names of your plants of interest are by searching literature in order to know exactly what you are working on, try to get in touch with experts/local people, and go to a herbarium and look at the plants by yourself.

Best of luck with your project!

Edit: Here is a good book on tropical plant collecting, and you should also check the Online botanical resources tab on the right.

Fruit by Stuppy and Kesseler is packed full of gorgeous scanning electron micrographs (and other pictures too) and a lot of very detailed but very readable information. I can not reccomend it highly enough. Seeds and Pollen are also very good. I have not read it (just found it now, going straight on my wishlist) but The Bizzare and Incredible World of Plants, also by Stuppy is almost certainly excellent.

It's a bit technical and dry, but Plant Form, by Adrian Bell is one of my favorite reference books of all time. The information is fascinating, and the diagrams are gorgeous. There's a free online copy available (legal, I think) if you would like to have a look, but I would highly recomend a physical copy, and it's pretty cheap as far as reference books go. Flip through the section on Tree Architecture starting at page 296 for a sample of how cool it is. Read and understand that section and you will be amazed at the things you will start noticing about plants around you.

For plant ID, I can not reccomend Botany in a Day highly enough for a quite comprehensive tutorial in how to recognize plant groups (which makes it orders of magnitude easier to come up with a more specific ID). It's a classic, and is a required text for just about every field botany class.

Getting a good guide to your local plants that is based on dichotomous keys and diagrams rather than photos and learning how to use it is an absolute must if you want to move past the basics for IDing plants in your area. Without knowing your location, it's impossible to give good recomendations, but the Jepson Manual is a good example of what you should be looking for, and by far the best guide to California plants. Unfortunately these sorts of books are usually fairly pricey, and can be pretty impenetrable without practice (helps a lot if you already have a general idea of what it is), so you might hold off on getting one until a much later date. You can get older editions for cheaper, but at least in the case of Jepson's, most of the changes involve more diagrams and easier to use keys, so it might not be worth it.

There are loads of others that are slipping my mind at the moment, I will add them later if I remember.

Good job learning plant families! That's an excellent and valuable start. Next I would recommend finding a taxonomic key (flora) for your area - it's a comprehensive, organized guide to all the species. Learn to identify plants by the key, and you'll be well on your way to being a pro! If a flora is hard to come by, see what kinds of field guides you can get your hands on. Often they are cheaper, but not as comprehensive.
 
If you don't already grow plants, start a little garden of your own. You can learn different propagating methods (cuttings, layering, dividing rhizomes) as well as seasonal phenology. If this isn't an option, get in the habit of observing the same plant every day (ex: your favorite tree by your house or work).

 

Keep a journal of phenology events in your garden/routine: when did your tree leaf out in spring? When did it flower? How big were the fruits?, etc. Note how much rain/snow fell, temperature min/max, or what insects you observed. Over time, you'll see patterns develop which will be invaluable to seed collecting, planting cycles, or just damn interesting! There is so much to botany, but being able to see the changes that occur throughout the season is a critical skill. It's all the more personal when you grow your own plants, and if you're into ethnobotany I'd say being in touch (ha!) with the plants is paramount. :)

 

One more thought: if there are any native plant societies, consider joining. Small, local chapters usually have nominal fees, are a great way to meet other botanists, and depending on the organization you learn some really neat, detailed stuff that you might not get from a book (examples: local uses of plants, genetic diversity of alpine communities, important pollinators in your area).

 

Check out these resources:

• [Alper Ertubey's Flora of Turkey] (https://www.floraofturkey.com)
  
  
• [Flora of Turkey, Davis et al, 1966-85] (https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-flora-of-turkey.html) - pricey! I don't know where you are in Turkey, but try to go to a university library to see if they have a copy you can browse.
  
  
• [Plant Identification Terminology] (https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Identification-Terminology-Illustrated-Glossary/dp/0964022168) One things for sure, botanists love their vocabulary!
  
   
  
  Hope these ideas get you going! :)
  Good luck!
  
   
  
  Edit: added thoughts & resources; formatting

Hey thank you for the resources! plants.jstor.org looks to be closer to what I'm looking for, specifically the ability to search by region. Kew looks great as well, but when I search for a broad term like desert, I only get 25 results. I'd love to find something more in depth in the sense of "Plants of the Savanna" or something.

Here's an example of the kind of book I've been looking at, but I could do with less in depth info and variation, and more "international" or "regional" if that makes sense. Best is to have a small image like this book with the real world plant, the scientific name, and location. I'm a total layman when it comes to horticulture. I work as a 3D environment artist, so I'm just trying to collect useful resources to reference when approaching foliage creation :)

https://www.amazon.com/American-Horticultural-Society-Encyclopedia-Practical/dp/0789489937

Of course! I really appreciate everyone's replies. You never really know what you are going to be greeted with on reddit in response to questions like this. Wikipedia had been an excellent friend. ;)

I am a botany undergrad, who just recently switched over from art, graphic design, etc. So speaking of friends, this book hasn't left my side. I am working on this paper with a professor and another student. It has been a great chance to get my feet wet, and figure out researching various literature in a way I haven't had to do before.

Anyways, I really appreciate everyone's responses!

I think your best bet in that part of the country, and with your level of experience is to start with a basic field guide. Look for a field guide for wildflowers of the Eastern USA. Your local nature center, etc, may have recommendations or a wide selection for sale. A good field guide will cover upland and wetland plants.

If you google "flora of new jersey" it looks like there's a group that is organized trying to create a flora for that state, as well as a native plant society. Both of these would be good groups to get involved with. If you tell the native plant society that you're a high school student interested in botany, I'm almost certain they would waive the membership fees for you.

Once you get more advanced with your identification skills and terminology, Gleason and Cronquist's flora of the Eastern US is a great resource. http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Vascular-Plants-Northeastern-Adjacent/dp/0893273651 It goes out of print often, but a used copy is just as good and will save you some money. Unfortunately, it's not a text for beginners and you're better off working with a simpler book with photos or drawings first.

Field Collecting 101: The difference between a scientist and any old asshole who just pulls a plant out of the ground is data. You need to preserve as much information as you possibly can about the plant.

First, start a collection book. I like the Rite-In-The-Rain 390 (NOT the 390F). This is where you will store all the information about your collections.

Assign each individual collection a unique personal identification number. Start at number 1 and go up. Most people do something like [First Initial][Last Initial][Collection Number] - JD001 or whatever. The numbering system is your own for life and never resets when you change institutions. Each number should refer to one species collected from one location on a given day. Different species? Different number. Different location? Different number. Different day? Different number.

Write a site description for each location where you collect. This can be for one collection or for multiple collections from the same site. The site description should include:

which collections the description is relevant for
date
elevation
gps location
directions to site
associated species
list of collectors
description of the topography.

Then for each collection at the site i record:

collection number
presumed family
number of replicates
field identification (as close as i can get)
determination with date of det (usually done at a later time in office)
description (write down the characteristics of the plant that can be lost in the preservation - lifeform, maximum size, color, smell, taste, etc)

I generally collect 2-4 replicates of each species. In selecting specimens, try to find plants that have as much information as possible - perfect is when you have a full sized plant with flowers, fruits and roots fit on a single page. But that isn't always possible. Some plants are too big. Some plants don't flower and fruit at the same time.

A made up example for a full site description with a single collection could look like this:

Site Description for JD537, 17 June 2005.
Elev: 1987m W 114º14’31.9” N 37º22’47.0”
Directions: ~450m by air north of Quaking Aspen Spring. Clover Mountains. Lincoln County, Nevada. United States of America.
Ass.Spp.: Quercus gambelii, Pinus monophylla, Juniperus osteosperma, Artemesia tridentata, Gayophytum ramosissimum, Collinsia parviflora, Crepis occidentalis, Lotus plebeius, and Polygonum douglasii.
Coll: J. Doe with J. Schmoe and J. Blow
Topo: Flat ridge top. Rocky volcanic substrate.

JD537, Liliaceae, (3)
ID: Calochortus bruneaunis
Det: Calochortus bruneaunis Nels. & Macbr., 14 Nov 2005
Desc: Perennial herb from bulb to 45cm. Corolla yellow to white. Nectaries purple. Calyx green to purple.

Now that you have all that metadata written down, you can press the specimen. I use a different piece of newspaper for each replicate and write on the spine of each page: Collection Number, Field ID, Date, Replicate Number. For the previous example, the first replicate would be "JD537, CALBRU, 17 Jun 2005, 1 of 3"

Fill that press up! Stick it in the dryer til the plants are nice and crispy. Determine everything. Type up your labels. Mail replicates to various herbaria for mounting.

Let me start by saying, that most botanical references are dry and dull. I have had my nose deep in technical keys for years, and they are by no means a pleasure to read. They are for the more advanced.
To begin, you must understand the terminology and the context for these terms. Let me recommend two books that I promise will bring you a foundational understanding.

Botany for Gardeners, or any of the other Capon books. He does an excellent job at discussing adaptations and morphologies, while addressing some of the key ecological concepts necessary for understanding plants.

Next is Flowering Earth by Peattie. I'd recommend anything by this guy especially the Western Trees and Eastern Trees books. He is a bit dated, having written this stuff in the early part of the 20th century, BUT, most of his dialogue is incredibly relevant, historically informative. and very well written (his mother wrote literature).

Finally, for just getting the nuts and bolts, use : Plant Identification Terminology. Great read for the toilet.

Like others have said, learning what characteristics plant families have makes plant I.D. so much easier. If this is something you really want to learn, I'd recommend a book like Wendy B. Zomlefer's Guide to Flowering Plants or Practical Plant Identification by James Cullen. Both of those should give you a rundown on common plant family characteristics and help you narrow it down at least to a family, if not a genus. Being able to accurately I.D. plants quickly is mostly practise, though; the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Though, because you don't think it's a native plant, once you have a rough idea of what it is, you can look at ornamental plants that will grow in your zone.

Taxonomy is the practice of describing, identifying, naming, and classifying life. The best way to start with plants is probably to start learning vocabulary. Plant Identification Terminology is a good book to get started. From there, learning the major plant families and the distinguishing characteristics of each family is great while keeping in mind the orders these major families are in. From there you can start focusing on genera within the families. I took a plant taxonomy course at my university and it was more or less structured in this way.

A Garden of Marvels is a good informational and entertaining read. Targeted for beginners to plant science, it covers a good slice of information. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DB2WP52/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I like Zomlefer's guide to plant families. The line drawings are beautiful and thorough, and each family description includes distribution, major genera, representatives in North America, economically important taxa, and interesting commentary. A used copy is about $10.

I personally really enjoyed What a Plant Knows. It was the core reading for my intro to botany course, and it uses peer-reviewed academic papers to present cool topics on how plants interact with the world around us.

Edit: I saw you like Pollan too? How to Change Your Mind is a cool read for the crossover of botany, ethnobotany, and neurochem.

This timeless, easy to read book is still one of my favorites and had wonderful reviews.

Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1892784351/ref=cm_sw_r_fm_apa_i_mC4LDb8VEQD66

Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary

and

Mabberley's Plant-book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses

They're both nice reference books.

Last Stands and Gathering Moss are fun reads. If there's a particular type of plant you like try finding books that talk about them.

Fellow Minnesotan and Seed Analyst (Plant Biology degree) here!

I recommend having this book on hand for all of your greenhouse adventures: American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0789441160/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_F8qQybT9GQCE7

It's full of photos and will provide you with endless practical advice as you're starting planties. I'm so excited for you and your students!

There is a book called "Pant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary" which does not identify any plants directly, but does teach you (and show you) how they are described. You will learn leaf shapes, flower types, different kinds of fruit and so on. Knowing these terms makes it easier to identify plants on your own, as you can describe the plant you found using the proper biological terms. It will also serve as a guide to decipher words found in technical botanical texts. I highly recommend this book!

I highly enjoyed What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses - by Daniel Chamovitz.

The author, Daniel Chamovitz, Ph.D., is the director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University. He has served as a visiting scientist at Yale University and at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and has lectured at universities around the world. His research has appeared in major scientific journals.

The book debunks a lot of the common myths perpetrated about plants, including some of the famous experiments/results from "The Secret Life of Plants." The books goes on to explain in detail how plants can "see" (how they sense and are affected by different types of light), what types of things they can "smell", how they sense / react to touch, and so on.

Despite his very science-y background, the content of the book is presented in a very clear easy-to-understand way that is enjoyable to read. Even though the book is not about any particular plant (it focuses on plants in general) I learned quite a few pertinent facts that have already been helping me increase yields and plant health in my own garden.

If you’re in Michigan and looking more into field biology, I recommend these two books:

More ecology based:
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Natural-Communities-Michigan/dp/1611861349


This is the best to ID native plants (older versions have pictures):
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Manual-Michigan-Flora-Edward/dp/0472118110

I love this one, especially if you want to know about gardening and horticulture.

If you want to know about plant physiology, phylogenies and ecology, I recommend this one.

Botany is incredibly vocabulary heavy so one I really love is the Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary.

It has a ton of botanical terms and is really handy if you have to look something up while keying out a specimen. I didn't know grasses had vaginas before getting this book. Now I do.

You may be interested in my favorite illustrated glossary

You could try:
The Botany Coloring Book

https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Coloring-Book-Paul-Young/dp/0064603024/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522820830&sr=8-1&keywords=botany+colouring+book
It covers pretty much everything a curious mind needs to get started on the topic....

Have you read The Botany of Desire? I absolutely loved it.

Botany in a Day is great for this kind of stuff.

a great place to start:
Plant Form

and if you get more into mathematical modeling...
Phyllotaxis

edit: someone already said my suggestion

Randomly picked up this book from the Uni bookstore, short, to the point, and focused on agriculture/gardening (as opposed to natural history). But I do not know how much it focuses on breeding though (not that far into it yet)


Botany for Gardeners: Third Edition

• https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Day-Patterns-Method-Identification/dp/1892784351
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsAFpSXj7Y <--- this guy is awesome

I've head only great things about What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses, by Daniel Chamovitz. Haven't read it yet myself but it's at the top of my list!

For me, that would be this one \^\^

Good luck with your further studies & good on you that you're already participating in your first paper!

(Not going to make a stupid joke a propos botany & graphics by linking to [this book](
http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Coloring-Book-Paul-Young/dp/0064603024/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0Z8CHXDBK6BC1PTHJX9P) - but by saying this, I already did.)

I know the absolute ultimate guide to flora in Michigan is the Field Manual of Michigan Flora by Edward Voss. It's seriously the bomb.

This book was extremely entertaining.

The Botany of Desire

https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Vascular-Plants-Northeastern-Adjacent/dp/0893273651/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526956589&sr=1-2&keywords=Manual+Vascular+Plants+Northeastern+United+States+Adjacent+Canada

This one should cover that area pretty well, however it does require a certain level of understanding of botanical terminology. It has no pictures but is very usable once you get used to it and it is compact enough to be carried in the field, barely.
I would also recommend looking in new and used book stores for older more local guides. Don't forget a good hand lens too.

I suggest you to read "Botany for gardeners" by Brian Capon (https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Gardeners-3rd-Brian-Capon/dp/160469095X). It's a good book to start learning botany.

This book has a lot of b/w line drawings of leave types like your example with about 15 pages on terminology just of leaves.

https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Identification-Terminology-Illustrated-Glossary/dp/0964022168/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CQR1ENGRKHZ6&keywords=plant+identification+terminology&qid=1557949176&s=gateway&sprefix=plant+identification+te%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-1

I am a big fan of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Botany-Day-Patterns-Method-Identification/dp/1892784351

If you want hardcore stuff, here is what I use:

• Flora of the Pacific Northwest - The full 5 volume set for all the illustrations
  
  
• Flora of North America around 30 volumes
  
  
• Biology of Plants by Peter (mother fucking) Raven
  
  
• Plant Systematics by Simpson
  
  
• Plant Identification Terminology
  
  

Yes, step one is learning to identify families. Another useful resource which stresses the family level is Botany in a Day. It's available in a handy dead tree version. It's most useful for native and naturalized North American plants.

Regardless of what you want to focus upon Plant Identification Terminology will come in handy.

Botany for Gardeners

Botany in a Day!

https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Identification-Terminology-Illustrated-Glossary/dp/0964022168

This is a go-to for many people.

Was just going to say!

https://www.amazon.ca/Plant-Identification-Terminology-Illustrated-Glossary/dp/0964022168

Hi!
The link didn’t load for me. Is it this book by James Harris?