Fieldguides (again!)

[Mike-S]

I have a 'Rose wildflower key' fieldguide but find that I am not experienced enough to use it satisfactorily. So I would like to buy one suitable for a beginner. I thought of getting 'Widflowers of Britain and Ireland' by Blamey, Fitter and Fitter but reviews of the book suggest that it is not suitable for beginners. So, can anyone point me in the right direction ?
All replies appreciated.

Thank you,

Mike-S

[Dan Salter]

There is a new one out...ill get the name in a mo. Its a whole new concept and way of keying plants out....supposed to be brilliant?...im even thinking of getting it myself....hang on...

NHBS - The Vegetative Key to the British Flora - John Poland and Eric Clement

There

[Lancashire Lad]

I can appreciate why the Wild Flower key (Rose) might be unsuitable for a beginner, don't see why Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland (Blamey, Fitter, Fitter) would be considered unsuitable. - It is primarily a fieldguide based around colour illustrations of wild flowers, shrubs, grasses, ferns, etc., with associated text, and is written largely in "layman's terms".

I personally think the book would be eminently suitable for someone with little botanical knowledge, as it is easy to navigate, the illustrations are first class, and the text doesn't assume that the reader is fully conversant with botanical terminology. I would recommend that you have a browse of a copy in your local bookstore.

If you really want something very simple, then Wild Flowers by Colour (Marjorie Blamey - Published by A&C Black - Domino Guides) is hard to beat, as is Complete British Wild Flowers (Paul Sterry - Published by Collins)

Collins Flower Guide (Streeter, Hart-Davies, Hardcastle, Cole, Harper - Published by Collins), is also an excellent book for the novice, but does assume a certain knowledge of botanical terms.

Others worth mentioning are Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland (Rae Spencer-Jones & Sarah Cuttle, Published by Kyle Cathie Ltd.), and Wild Flowers of Britain (Roger Phillips, Published by Pan/Macmillan).

The Vegetative Key To the British Flora mentioned by Dan is a superb book, but would definitely be unsuitable for a beginner who finds Rose's The Wild Flower Key hard going.

My best advice would be to find a good highstreet bookshop that carries a selection of botanical books, and have a good browse. The ones mentioned are all worth having, but which would be best is likely to be a personal choice.

EDIT - Just noticed that was your first post Mike-S, so welcome to WAB
Regards,
Mike.

[davidbr]

An important thing to consider, too, is the range of species a particular guide will cover - if you do any significant amount of your plant-hunting in man-made habitats, you'll find that most popular field guides won't cover half the species you'll come across (okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but in my experience at least a quarter )

Which is why I don't use conventional field guides any more. Clive Stace's Interactive Flora of NW Europe (despite the title, every species does occur in Britain) includes around 3,500 species, natives, escapes, introductions and casuals. I believe his criteria for inclusion of aliens is that they should be out there to be found in "most years", so you don't get a long list of all the old wool casuals you're unlikely to find unless mills make a comeback. You obviously need to buy a DVD-ROM for the full version, but it's partly available online for free at this site and I find it a very useful ID guide.

Where pictures are concerned, there's always Google Image - I plug the names in (scientific names are usually best) and check the photos

[Mike-S]

Thanks for your replies. As I don't have easy access to a large bookshop, I've bitten the bullet and ordered the Blamey, Fitter and Fitter from the Alpine Garden Society that I've just joined. I hope I've done the right thing. Time will tell.
Here's looking forward to spring.

Mike

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Mike-S

Thanks for your replies. As I don't have easy access to a large bookshop, I've bitten the bullet and ordered the Blamey, Fitter and Fitter from the Alpine Garden Society that I've just joined. I hope I've done the right thing. Time will tell.
Here's looking forward to spring.

Mike

I think you won't be disappointed- it's an excellent book. For my money it's the best non-technical illustrated guide out there, though there are plenty of other excellent books out there.

[Mike-S]

Well, the book arrived today and I'm very impressed. The illustrations are superb and I'm looking forward to learning how to use it.

Mike

[Monkey Orchid]

The Blamey, Fitter and Fitter guide was the first one I bought, and I still use it; the second guide I bought was the Rose one, which I also found good. I tend to take both with me when I go out, as I think each has their strengths. The keys are better in Rose and there's a lot of useful species identification information (plus that handy little ruler on the back cover!), whilst the artwork in Blamey, Fitter and Fitter is excellent - really captures the 'jizz' of the plants.

I've found online photos and photographic guides such as the Roger Phillips ones useful, but they wouldn't be my first choice for identifying stuff. Illustrations can capture a range of features for a species, whilst a photo usually only gives you the appearance of one individual plant. The big advantage of online images is that there are so many to look at... And the big drawback is that sometimes they are incorrectly identified and labelled!