Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the following people for their efforts in identifying seeds for me:  Bruce Bartholomew, R.S. Cowan, John Dennis, John Dranesfield, James Duke, Donald Evans, Carol Gracie, Charles Gunn, Robert Faden, Andrew Henderson, Janette Hoistington, Phillip Jenkins, Joseph Kirkbride Jr, Hannelore Kutschkau, Bruce Maslin, Scott Mori, Mark Nesbitt, Edward Perry, Enrique Salman, Caroline Servaes, Arthur O. Tucker, Jill Turner, Joseph Wiersman, Roy Vickery, and Rodney Young.

I thank the following people for giving me or procuring for me the many decorative botanical elements in my collection:  Ana Arguelles, Joseph Zaria, Carol Berman, Margaret Donnald, Mark Dreyfus, Mitzi Dworin, Marian Flynn, Mildred Gordon, Milan Hrabovsky, Esquire Jauchem, Tracey Lake, Alison Linnecar, Portia Meares, Maggie Modig, Chris Okunji, Carol Ottesen, Anna Reich, Carol Ann Robertson, Paul Rogers, Holly Shimuzu, Phyllis Sidorsky, Carolyn Smith, Edgar Smith, Lois Smith, Maureen Smith, Donna Stauffer, Arthur O. Tucker, John Tuxill, Janet Walker, Mary Lou Winder, Cassie Yates, Cathy Yow, and Peter Zies.

I am grateful to James Adams and Carolyn Smith for reading my manuscript and to Tania Cleary, Barbara Jean, Paul Kuzniar and Tim Schaffer for their computer savvy.

I am indebted to Susan J. Mazer for scanning my book and providing the digital photographs.  She was truly an angel out of the blue who assisted me in countless ways in the completion of this project.

This book is an attempt to record information about beads made from botanical substances.  I had to rely on the help of botanists in many parts of the world, an inquiry that made me realize how difficult it is to identify seeds out of context.  The book does not cover the subject of botanical beads fully but does feature the necklaces and objects in my collection.  It is not error free, so I welcome any corrections.

Ruth J. Smith

e-mail: RUTHARLINGTON@aol.com