Accessible but authoritative introduction to field botany: the novice's essential complement to a fieldguide. Explains the nature of wild flowers; how to choose a fieldguide and use keys to identify unknown plants; where to look, how to get involved with projects and like-minded people, and where to get additional help and advice.
[see also the Lancashire Lad's post 69541 in WAB Wildflower forum]
Lancashire Lad Knight Commander of the Wild Empire
Registered: September 2008 Location: Red Rose County Posts: 5206
Review Date: Thu 21, October, 2010
Would you recommend it? Yes |
Total Spent: £12.25| Rating: 8
Strengths:
Novel approach to giving the beginner a better understanding of wild flowers
Weaknesses:
I think this book fills a glaring gap in the types of botany & wild flower books that have previously been available, and aims to guide the beginner/novice botanist through the maze of how to go about identifying the plants that might be found.
The book is most definitely not a field guide, but more of an introduction to the "how's", "why's", & "where's", of wild flowers.
There are sections on exactly what wild flowers are, how they work, where to look, naming of plants, getting involved, sources of help, etc. etc., all of which are subdivided into more specific areas. (For example the Name that plant section includes detail on how plants are classified, the use of field guides & keys, strategies for identification).
It contains quite a few line diagrams, and a substantial number of good quality photographs. The narrative is in easy going, mainly layman's terminology style, and contains a plethora of tips on plant characteristics and the features that should be looked for to gain a better chance of identification.
It is a book that needs to be used not instead of, but in conjunction with a good field guide.
Not really a book for the very experienced, but I think the novice or thus far "casual" botanist will find that this, along with a suitable field guide, should provide much of what is needed to get a firm foothold on the botanical path.
------------------------------ Common sense is not so common.
