Book blossoms

For its April issue, Texas Highways included a full-page feature on Lone Star Wildflowers.

The book is by former ECISD biology teachers LaShara Nieland and Willa Finley and is about some 500 of the 5,000 wildflowers in Texas, arranged by color and including a photo taken by the authors for each plant.

That the travel magazine would take an interest in state wildflowers is really nothing new, and wildflower field-guides are an established field of diverse sizes and types in themselves.

So what, if anything sets this one apart?

"There are good wildflower books out there," Nieland admitted, "but they’re the kind that tell you what the name is without saying whether it will poison your cattle."

For example, the Lone Star Wildflowers entry for the celebrated Indian Paintbrush reads in part:

"[Native Americans] also learned to make a tea with diuretic qualities effective in treating kidney problems. Paintbrush tea is an old home remedy for venereal disease, probably because it helps sooth the pain in the urinary tract… It also served to alleviate stomach aches."

The knowledge of which may come to a surprise to some, but probably not the hundreds of Bowie freshman AP biology students from 1991 until Nieland’s retirement in 2008 who were assigned her yearlong wildflower project requiring them to gather and identify dozens of plants.

Ashley Helserich was part of Nieland’s last year at Bowie.

"It was a really neat project," said Helserich, now a junior at OHS.

Helserich said her year they had to collect 75 plants, give the scientific and common names, and all of the uses the plant had. But Helserich said Nieland was there to help in identification, and the class got some reward.

"She cooked dandelions for us," Helserich said.

Helserich said walking around on vacation or anywhere, she still recognizes and remembers a lot of the wildflowers and weeds.

"It made me look at them in a totally different way," Helserich said.

And some parents got into the project.

Jeanette Hollmann had three children take Nieland’s class, and found the material rubbed off on her.

"The whole family ended up learning a lot about wildflowers," Hollmann said. "When we’re traveling, we like to identify flowers on the side of the road."

Jelene Ballard, a freshman AP English teacher at Bowie, said she appreciated the stories that Nieland included.

"She always taught the kids not just the beauty of the flower in nature but also the medicinal uses and myths," Ballard said.

Nieland said that for years, students had told her she should write a book, but not until Finley, her friend from their days at Abilene Christian University, came to teach in Odessa after 16 years in agribusiness in Africa did she attempt it.

"The idea first was to do PowerPoint presentations for the classes," Finley said of the process that started in 1998. But after Finley moved to Lubbock in 2000, they found a publisher for their work in Texas Tech University Press. "We had to rejig everything to be a book style," Finley said.

So they added more entries, took more and better photographs, and improved their content until finally the book was published in summer 2009.

"It’s a good thing we didn’t know how long it would take or we wouldn’t have started," Nieland joked.

The effort has paid off in the form of trips to Austin for signings and speeches at the Lady Bird Nature Center, which also carries the book in its store, and the 2009 Texas Book Festival. The book design won an award with the Association of American University Presses, and the book itself is a finalist in ForeWord Reviews’ book of the year in the nature category.

Probably the greatest reward of all, Lone Star Wildflowers is now in its second printing after being out less than a year.

Barbara Brannon, TTUP marketing manager, said it wasn’t surprising the book took off due to the "field testing" of the content in the classes. Although she wouldn’t say exactly how many copies had been sold, Brannon said it was "in the thousands."

"For a university press book to sell any thousands is pretty impressive," Brannon explained.

Both authors said the ultimate aim was a broad, educational appeal.

"Anybody who’s going down the road and doesn’t know beans about wildflowers can use this book," Finley said. "But there’s enough botanical information to appeal to people with more experience."

FACT FILE
>> Title: Lone Star Wildflowers: A Guide to Texas Flowering Plants
>> Pages: 321.
>> Authors: LaShara S. Nieland and Willa F. Finley.
>> Publisher: Texas Tech University Press, 2009.

Achievements
>> Sold through the Lady Bird Johnson Nature Center.
>> Sold through Texas Highways magazine.
>> 2010 New York Book Show Winner (General Trade, Quality Paperbacks)
>> Silver Addy Award (Lubbock Advertising Federation), Publication Design (Magazine or Book) 8E Book Design (Entire Book)
>> 2009 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards finalist (Nature)
>> 2010 Association of American University Presses Book, Jacket & Journal Show: Selected Entry

IF YOU GO
What: Meet authors LaShara Nieland and Willa Findley.
When: 3 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Hastings Book & Music, 3897 E. 42nd St.