Wildflower field guides

[adampembs]

There are a bewlidering array of wildflower guide books. I have checked the resources section and so far there are few reviews or votes for books. What books have people found most useful?
I have so far found the Collins Complete British Flowers most useful, as it arranges flowers by family, the photos are generally very good, and there are photos or illustrations of the flower and the leaves.

I found the Roger Phillips "Herbs" book quite disappointing as many of the photos are quite poor, often from a distance and not showing flowers and leaves.

Marjorie Blamey's Wild Flowers by colour is an attractive book, but is all illustrations, many of which lack detail.

The Wild flowers of Britain and Europe has decent photos, but so far, not found it as useful as the Collins.

I'd be interested to know what others think. When I feel a bit more confident in my choices, I'll add something to the reference section but don't feel knowledgeable enough yet.

[Johnny Redgate]

If you're fairly serious about wildflower ID (use of keys etc) then for me it's

The Wildflower Key by Francis Rose/Clare O'Reilly.

[PeteTheBloke]

I'll second the choice of Francis Rose's Wild Flower Key. I quite like the first edition because it's pretty compact, though I have the 2nd edition and use it extensively.

Generally, I would avoid books with photos (though they are nice to have for browsing at home). Good drawings and paintings are far more useful for identification.

The Collins Flower Guide by Streeter, Hart-Davies et al is a nice book and includes ferns, sedges and grasses (Rose's 2nd edition doesn't) but it deals pretty scantly with each plant in the text and is a brick of a book.

[Lancashire Lad]

I agree with Johnny & Pete, although I do understand the logic that a good photograph is hard to beat. The two books they mentioned are probably the best currently available without opting for Stace's "New Flora of the British Isles".

One which I have, and find useful, is "Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland" by Blamey/Fitter/Fitter. (Domino Guides pub. A&C Black). Again though, it has illustrations rather than photos.

I still think that Marjorie Blamey's "Wild Flowers By Colour" is a useful book, as even though it contains very little descriptive information, flowers of any given colour are located in the same section of the book. If I'm unsure of what I've got, it provides a quick means of comparing the basic look of a flower without having to scan a whole book. Once I think I'm close to an ID, I can then look in other books for more detail.

Regards,
Mike.

[PeteTheBloke]

Now I know that identifying flowers by colour goes against the grain for scientists, but it can be invaluable for beginners who haven't yet learnt to take a stab at the family - they simply don't have the experience. There's a Reader's Digest book called Wild Flowers (in their "Wild Britain" series) and it allows you to narrow down from colour -> no. of petals -> regular/irregular flowers. The diagrams are reasonable and there's good info on each flower. Approx. 500 species are covered.

There's no substitute for a key, if you're serious enough about botany, but for the casual naturalist, this is a very nice little book. I think I might have got more interested more quickly if I'd had something like this during those first 2-3 confusing summers.

[Dorts]

I use and stongly reccommend:

'The Wild Flowers of the British Isles' Garrard / Streeter. Midsummer Books 1998
'Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland" by Blamey/Fitter/Fitter. A&C Black. 1998
'Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles and Northen Europe'. Francis Rose. Viking. 1989.

And of course, if you want to get serious:
'New Flora of the British Isles' Clive Stace. 3rd, Edition. Cambridge University Press.
Dorts.

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by Dorts

I use and stongly reccommend:

'The Wild Flowers of the British Isles' Garrard / Streeter. Midsummer Books 1998
'Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland" by Blamey/Fitter/Fitter. A&C Black. 1998
'Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of the British Isles and Northen Europe'. Francis Rose. Viking. 1989.

And of course, if you want to get serious:
'New Flora of the British Isles' Clive Stace. 3rd, Edition. Cambridge University Press.
Dorts.

The problem with Dort's choice is that he is so knowledgeable that he has forgotten what it is like to be a beginner I hasten to add he is also very generous on WAB with his knowledge. And I note he has not included Rose's Wild Flowers!

In my opinion (a beginner each Spring as I forget so much), Rose, and especially Stace are quite impossible to follow until you are pretty expert. Rose is the easier, but still incomprehensible to newbies. With both, once you go wrong in the keying out you are lost. I also don't like the pictures very much. (and Stace only has a few B&W line drawings)

I wrote at some length about various books in this post
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...42-post13.html
which also gives ISBN numbers.

Since then there has also appeared the vegetative guide to wild flowers (not got details to hand) which is a useful addition, but again not one of the first books to buy, as in the early days one is only looking at flowers in flower

[Hedera]

The Collins photographic guide is a useful one, and the Rose key is brilliant. I also have a very tatty F.K. Makins Concise F lora, 1939 edition with line drawings which I had at school for Botany - still good for preliminary family finding!

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

The problem with Dort's choice is that he is so knowledgeable that he has forgotten what it is like to be a beginner I hasten to add he is also very generous on WAB with his knowledge. And I note he has not included Rose's Wild Flowers!

In my opinion (a beginner each Spring as I forget so much), Rose, and especially Stace are quite impossible to follow until you are pretty expert. Rose is the easier, but still incomprehensible to newbies. With both, once you go wrong in the keying out you are lost. I also don't like the pictures very much. (and Stace only has a few B&W line drawings)

I wrote at some length about various books in this post
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...42-post13.html
which also gives ISBN numbers.

Since then there has also appeared the vegetative guide to wild flowers (not got details to hand) which is a useful addition, but again not one of the first books to buy, as in the early days one is only looking at flowers in flower

Suprisingly, I still have vivid memories of those 'early days'. The books available to me were 'old' then! 'British Flora' by Bentham and Hooker 1890's, with Black and White line drawings. 'Name that Flower' by some French chap, (almost as old), had a Key of sorts but illustrations so small as to be virtually useless, and the Rev.John's 'Flowers of the Field', very rambling, . And a number of other very limited volumes.

First I got a copy of 'Keeble Martin' and things started to look up, slightly. Good illustrations but very limited text.
Then I was given a copy of Collins, 'A pocket guide to wild flowers' by Fitter and McLintock. This became my 'Bible' for many years, and at last I was able to 'get serious'!
Though I will always have a soft spot for that super little book, looking at it today, the illustration are very poor by comparison to many of those now available, but the plant descriptions, habitat etc. still remains some of the best.

By comparison 'The Wild Flowers of the British Isles' Garrard / Streeter. Midsummer Books 1998 (still available for around £25) has some of the finest flower illustrations ever printed in a modern flora, and 'Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland" by Blamey/Fitter/Fitter. A&C Black. 1998 has easily taken the place of the Collins 'Pocket Guide', an excelent book, and I would highly reccommend both to begginers and others alike.

I do have a copy of Francis Roses first 'Field Guide'. He was never happy with it and although I have used it for many years, it is not as good I believe as his last work, (which I don't have.)

So I say to anyone just starting out, 'jump in at the deep end' and try to get hold of the two books I have mentioned, you won't regret it I promise you.

Dorts.

[Gill Catton]

Francis Rose for me too!! but I always have other books for second or even third opinions and I like photographs for that too (and actually Roger Phillips wild flowers is much much better then the herbs book for ID purposes).

Also although not technically a book, I'd also actually strongly recommend the interactive flora of the British Isles DVD ROM. CA Stace, R Van der Meijden and I De Kort It has 2000 drawings and 6500 colour photos. and is absolutely fantastic for at home comparisons (there's also a similar version for the iphone/ ipod touch) It also has Stace's key built in for when you're felling brave (though I have to say its just not a key I get on with! Its only £35 and therefore cheaper than Stace's book too.