Gerald Staley's popular guidebook Trees of Vancouver (UBC Press, 1992) identifies 470 varieties of trees--and where to find them--in the Lower Mainland. It received the City of Vancouver Book Award. Gerald Straley was born in 1945 and he wrote six books on B.C. vegetation. He was a research scientist at the UBC Botanical Garden who co-authored the four-volume Ministry of Forests series that catalogues all the plants in the province. For the BC Ministry of Forests, George W. Douglas, Gerald B. Straley and Del Meidinger co-authored:

Vascular Plants of British Columbia, Part 1 -Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons (Aceraceae Through Cucurbitaceae). 1989.

Vascular Plants of British Columbia, Part 2 - Dicotyledons (Diapensiaceae Through Portulacaceae). 1990.

Vascular Plants of British Columbia, Part 3 - Dicotyledons (Primulaceae Through Zygophyllaceae) and Pteridophytes. 1991.

Vascular Plants of British Columbia, Part 4 - Monocotyledons. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Victoria. 1994.

Straley died in 1997 at the age of 52.

[Photo: Gerald Straley with Premier Gordon Campbell, accepting the City of Vancouver Book Award at the Vancouver International Writers' Festival in 1993.]

[BCBW 2003] "Classic" "Gardening"