Zuchowski, Willow

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Zuchowski, Willow

PERSONAL:

Married William Haber.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Monteverde, Costa Rica. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Botanist, guide, and naturalist.

MEMBER:

Monteverde Conservation League, Monteverde Institute, and Creative Learning Center.

WRITINGS:

(With husband William A. Haber, and Erick Bello; and illustrator) An Introduction to Cloud Forest Trees: Monteverde, Costa Rica, W. Haber (Monteverde, Costa Rica), 1996.

(And illustrator) Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora, photographs by Turid Forsyth, Comstock Associates (Ithaca, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Willow Zuchowski is a botanist, guide, and naturalist. Zuchowski, who has lived in Monteverde, Costa Rica, since the late 1980s, has taken a strong interest in the natural world the country's rainforests provide, focusing on its plant life and conservation efforts to save the habitats. She has worked with her husband, William Haber, on a number of research projects in the area, including one on plant inventory. Zuchowski's familiarity with the rainforests of Monteverde come from her more-than-a-decade experience as a guide, which she gives for educational benefits, focusing on tropical plant family identification.

Zuchowski published her first book, An Introduction to Cloud Forest Trees: Monteverde, Costa Rica, in 1996. She illustrated the book herself and cowrote it with Haber and Erick Bello. In 2007 she wrote and illustrated her second book, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora. The book provides a range of information on the plants found in Costa Rica and how, over the centuries, these plants have been used and regarded. The field guide covers more than 9,000 indigenous plants, organized in categories such as fruits and crops, painted treetops, roadside and garden ornaments, and conspicuous grasses. Each plant has its own description as well as its English and Spanish or local name, flowering and fruiting, related species, and its distribution. The account also describes how best to view the plants, keeping in mind the importance of preserving the natural environment of these plant species. A glossary lists a number of botanical terms that readers may need to know as well as a plant family list for reference.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October, 2007, G.C. Stevens, review of Tropical Plants of Costa Rica: A Guide to Native and Exotic Flora, p. 309.

Science News, July 14, 2007, review of Tropical Plants of Costa Rica, p. 31.