Wildflowers in the Field and Forest: A Field Guide to the Northeastern United States (Butterflies Through Binoculars)

Below, I've compared 10 different flower/plant ID books.May rating for this book is #2 in the last below.My rating reflects how easy I think it is to use thisbook to look up and find an unknown flower. The numberof pages I've listed do not include the appendix,glossary, bibliography, or index.For me to rate a "flower ID book" as 5 stars, it musthave the following attributes:A. It is ordered by color.B. The edges of the pages are color coded to make it easy to find the color of flower you want.C. If a flower comes in more than one main color, it is included in each of the appropriate color sections.D. At least 1/2 page of text is provided to describe the overall plant, its leaves, its seeds/fruits, its flowers, petals, and when the flowers typically bloom.E. A range map for where the plant is likely to be found.F. One or more full pages of photos that show ... a. the full plant in perspective to judge its size, b. photos of various stages of the plant's life, c. a close up of its flower(s), d. a close up of its (various) leaves, e. a close up of its fruits/pods/seeds, f. If the plant has a close look-alike, then name those look-alikes and provide a description of the differences and side-by-side photos that point out these differences.None of the following books have all of the above qualities.1. "Wildflowers of Wisconsin" -- 4.5* (C)2000 by Stan Tekiela -- 200 species -- 6"H x 4-3/8"W x 3/4"D -- 401 pages. Ordered by colors with page edges colored for easy use. Usually 1 left full-page photo with text on right page giving details about the flower, leaf, fruit/seed, and overall plant and blooming time details. Occasional photo inset showing the flower, fruit, or leaf.2. "Wildflowers in the Field and Forest" -- 3.5* (C)2006 by Stephen Clemants & Carol Gracie -- 1450 species -- 8-1/4"H x 5-1/2"W x 1"D -- 399 pages. Ordered by colors. The page edges are not colored but a color bar is found 1/4" inside of the left-hand page. 6-8 photos of different plants on the right with brief text describing each plant on the left-hand page, often leaving out crucial details like number of petals. Photos sometimes require use of a magnifying glass to see the detail. Some (not enough) photos have 1/2" inset showing the leaf, but this is much too small to discern any detail. Many photos do not show the overall plant, or they show a distant view of the overall plant with no detail of what the flower or leaf looks like. Includes a range map with color coded bloom range date.3. "National Audubon Society - Field Guide to North American Wildflowers - Eastern Region" -- 3.5* (C)1995 by William A. Niering and Nancy C. Olmstead -- 700 species -- 7-1/2"H x 4"W x 1-3/8"D -- 826 pages. Ordered by colors. The page edges are not colored but a color bar is found just inside of the left-hand page. 2 or 3 photos of different plants are shown on each of the photo pages, typically 3. Text describing each plant is in a separate section after all of the photos. Only one photo is provided for each flower. Photos sometimes require use of a magnifying glass to see the detail. Many photos do not show the overall plant, or they show a distant view of the overall plant with no detail of what the flower or leaf looks like. The text section includes range maps. The text section also contains another 300+ entries for which there were no photos.4. "Wildflowers and Ferns of Indiana Forests" -- 3* (C)2012 by Michael A. Homoya -- nearly 300 species -- 8-1/4"H x 4-1/4"W x 7/8"D -- 416 pages. Typically 1 page per species (some more, some less). Text description followed by photo on same or next page. Many photos contain inset showing leaf, seed, fruit, or closeup of flower. Ordered by flower color with page edges colored for easy use. Flower section is preceded by sections on ferns and woody vines (some with flowers), and followed by a section on grasses.5. "Wildflowers Grasses & Other Plants - of the Northern Plains and Black Hills" -- 3* (C)1992 by Theodore Van Bruggen -- 312 species -- 10"H x 7"W x 1/4"D -- 107 pages. Typically 3 species per page. The text description is beside the plant's photo on the same page. Many of the photos show the flower without showing any of the leaves. Some photos show a distant plant so no details of the flower are visible. Ordered by flower color with the edges of the pages color coded to make the flowers easy to find.6. "Peterson Field Guides - Wildflowers - Northeastern/ Northcentral North America" -- 3* (C)1968 by Roger Tory Peterson & Margaret McKenny -- 1344 species -- 7-1/8" x 4-1/2" x 7/8" -- 394 pages. Typically 6 to 10 species for each 2 page spread. A paragraph of text on the left-hand page describes the corresponding species drawn on the right-hand page. There are no photos -- just drawings. Very few of the drawings are in color. Often there is insufficient detail to discern between similar-looking species. Important plant attributes have arrows pointing to that attribute in the drawing. Some of the drawing pages are overly crowded with too many species. Ordered by colors, but only the first few pages have the color on the page edges.7. "Weeds of the West" -- 3* (C)1996 by Tom D. Whitson, and 6 others -- 300 species -- 9"H x 6"W x 1-3/8"D -- 601 pages. Typically 2 pages per species. The first page is a full page photo. The second page is a text description followed by 2 smaller photos showing details of the plant. Not all of the plants have obvious flowers. Since it is not ordered by flower color, there is no easy way to look up an unknown flower, but the photos are great ! If you find a close match in some other flower ID book, you could use the index in this book to find better photos to verify your result.8. "Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses" -- 2.5* (C)2005 by James H. & Karl V. Miller -- 182+ species -- 9-1/4"H x 6-1/4"W x 7/8"D -- 415 pages. Typically 2 pages per genus. The text description on the left-hand page is followed by 1 or more photos on the right-hand page. Ordered by plant type (broadleaf herbs, grasses, woody, shrubs, etc.) and ordered by genus within the type. Each entry contains 1 or more species but not necessarily all of the species within that genus. Photos frequently include the plant in various stages of the plant's life, or closeups of plant parts. I rated this book higher than my usual because of this. Since it is not ordered by flower color, there is no easy way to look up an unknown flower. If you find a close match in some other ID book, you could use the index in this book to find better photos to verify your result. The author doesn't seem to know the difference between Wood Sorrel and Sheep Sorrel on pages 138-139 -- Sheep Sorrel is listed again on page 164.9. "Newcomb's Wildflower Guide" -- 2* (C)1977 by Lawrence Newcomb -- 1375 species -- 7-3/4"H x 4-3/4"W x 3/4"D -- 463 pages. Typically 6 to 10 species for each 2 page spread. A paragraph of text on the left-hand page may describe one of the species drawn on the right-hand page. Some paragraphs have no corresponding drawing. There are no photos -- just drawings. Very few of the drawings are in color. Often there is insufficient detail to discern between similar-looking species. Not ordered by color, so extremely difficult to locate an unknown flower unless you know everything about the plant's leaves, etc.10. "Field Guide to Indiana Wildflowers" -- 2* (C)2000 by Kay Yatshievych -- 1564 species -- 8-1/2"H x 5-1/2"W x 7/8"D -- 318 pages. 5 to 8 species descriptions per page. 0 to 4 photos per page with the text description on the same page (not all species have a photo), with 2-3 photos being typical on each page. Not all photos show the leaf. Few photos show fruit or seed. Not all photos show the flower very clearly. Not ordered by flower color and thus no easy way to look up an unknown flower.

This is a good field reference for identifying plants. Nomenclature might not agree with other field guides. I like the photographs and the organization.

The publication of a new field guide to the wildflowers of thenortheastern United States and adjacent Canada is a major botanical event. When Oxford Press is the source of the publication we must be doubly impressed because of the high quality of Oxford field guides in general.I am happy to say that the Clemants and Gracie book has delivered an updated treatment of our herbaceous flora. Both authors have long experience in their respective major disciplines of plant taxonomy and botanical photography, Clemants as the Vice President of Science at theBrooklyn Botanic Garden and formerly its Director of the New York Metropolitan Flora Project. (Disclosure: we have co-authored a few papers and we serve together on the council of the Torrey Botanical Society.) Gracie has long been a tropical botanist and illustrator, contributing to our knowledge of the flora and forest ecology of French Guiana, in tandem with her husband Scott Mori. The book displays 1450 species of the estimated 2000 in the region. The authors incorporate the latest taxonomic treatments of important groups. They provide for the very first time, in any flora or field guide, northeastern range maps of all their wildflowers. These maps are color-coded to display season of flowering. The book is meant for botanically untrained observers so that botanical jargon is kept to an absolute minimum. While the flowers are arranged by color, there is also a key ("outlineguide") to illustrated flowers so that one can more easily find the correct page. On each page there are references to leaf form, leaf arrangement, and petal number.The photographs are extremely sharp and show fine detail of stamen number, pistil morphology and perianth features And the photos are beautiful, revealing features of tiny flowers that are overlooked in casual observation. That was the case with the Lamium amplexicaule photo. I have always liked thatlittle weedy plant, but the revelation of the intricate pattern of spots on the lip of the lower petal made me realize just how beautiful it was. On the negative side, some photos are nearly indecipherable, such as the one of Aconitum noveboracense.Most wildflower guides have used colored line drawings forillustration. One exception is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Wildflowers: Eastern Region. Here we find 638 photographs, three to a page. In contrast, the 1450 photographs in the Clemants/Gracie guide are arranged with 5-8 pictures to a page. Inevitably, something has got to suffer. In the present case it is the size of the illustrated flowers and, often, the loss of the plant's form. Leaf form is an important character for distinguishing closely related species. Where this is crucial to the identification, the picture of the flower contains an inset of the leaf, often from herbarium material. Without a flower present the book loses its usefulness.Having taught the subject of field botany for over 30 years, I know how important a good guide is to short-cutting the journey through keys for the entire northeastern flora. Some instant gratification goes a long way to making students life-long devotees of wildflowers. (I would suggest that instructors do as I did, provide hardcover classroom copies of a field guide, and then encourage the students to purchase soft cover copies for their future enjoyment.) I recommend this book for field botany classes. It has been authored by one of the foremosttaxonomists of our region's flora. The book is beautiful from the cover illustration to the last page of plates. It is printed on high quality paper and has the feel of a magazine. For experienced field botanists, this book has an important place in any collection of field guides because of the up-to-date nomenclature, the maps and the detailed flower illustrations.Andrew M. Greller, Professor of Biology Emeritus, Queens College, CUNY, Flushing, New York 11791

I'm no expert at botany, but I've spent my share of time using Peterson and Audubon guides. This guide differs from them in two important ways: 1) The descriptions and pictures are side by side--no paging back and forth! 2) This covers a much higher proportion of species.This guide does lack info on the ecology of the plants. It has one purpose--to help you look at a plant and figure out what it is. For the breadth of species it covers, it accomplishes this purpose extremely well, very efficiently, and in a format that is easy to carry.There are two notable features: 1) Both natives and non-natives are included, but the names of non-natives are preceded by a "*". Simple, but very helpful. 2) The range maps are like nothing I've seen before--each species has a small map just to the left of it's description which uses color-coded bands to show when the species is in flower. Most of the maps have just one color, but this is still a useful combination of related information. These small maps are greatly helped by the book's covering only the northeast US, allowing greater detail.The book's being limited to the NE would of course be a deal breaker for many. The only other possible complaint that I can see someone having is that identification depends heavily on the plant actually having flowers at the time. The key emphasizes flower color and the photographs tend to focus on the flowers and not the whole plant structure. However, I'm not sure what an effective and efficient alternative would be.