Sunday, August 02, 2009

Plant Field Guides



I checked out a bunch of botany books at the library. I can't say that the books are any better information than what I can find online. I liked having something in print to browse thru.

Two books I liked and want to remember for future reference:

The Field Guide to Weeds (Spiral-bound), by Lawrence J. Crockett. Based on an older book entitled Wildly Successful Plants. ("Wildly Successful" - Liked that description of weeds.)

Quote from page 9 of Introduction:
"Thus we may not define a weed exclusively as a plant we do not want where it grows in garden, lawn, or landscaped highway. Both native and introduced weedy species conform to this definition, but introduced species may, in addition, drive out our native wild species, denying them their former habitats and ecological niches."

Some plants of note:
Wild morning glory (Convolvulus arvense)
Wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata)
Poison ivy, (Rhus radicans)
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
Cattail (Typha augustifolia)
Yellow foxtail grass (Setaria viridis)
Canada golden rod (Solidago canadensis)
Milkweed (Asclepsia syriaca)

I thought the photos and illustration of each plant was of good quality for identification purposes.

I did find and browse thru "Botany in a Day" by Thomas J. Elpel (mentioned earlier on my blog). I didn't like how the information was arranged and it wasn't what I was looking for. Too broad and data overload.

The other book that I liked was Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers, by Doug Ladd. (c. 1995 1st Ed.)

NOTE: The c. 2005 2nd edition contains an added section on weeds.

I liked that it arranged the flowers by color. It featured a lot of the plants I found in the field. And even if it didn't have the exact same species, it steered me in the right direction. Good photos for identification purposes. Field guide format.

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