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Colorado Plant Books
Damian Fagan, Canyon Country Wildflowers: A Field Guide to Common Wildflowers, Shrubs, and Trees A delightful treatment of 190 species of the canyonlands of southeast Utah, far northern Arizona, and far western Colorado, all depicted in sharp, top-quality color photos. Enough color and nontechnical description to delight the beginner, enough detail to satisfy the experienced botanist. Also has good introductory information on such basic topics as pollination, soils, microclimate, and ecology.
Falcon, 1998. 147 pages, about 6 x 9 inches, paperback. New.
Item #169. Shipping weight: 1.0 lb. Publisher's price: $19.95. Your price: $18.00 (Out of stock)
Don Mammoser (with Stan Tekiela), Wildflowers of Colorado Field Guide
Don Mammoser (with Stan Tekiela), Wildflowers of Colorado Field Guide Nice new identification guide to 200 species of Colorado wildflowers, in a chunky, but compact, format small enough to fit into a vest jacket pocket. Color photos of each plant fill a full page, with text on the facing page. Most of the species included are herbaceous perennials, with a few annuals and a few shrubs included. The photos are generally of very good to excellent quality, and show the features of the plant needed for identification (which is not always the case in photographic field guides).
The text section includes common and scientific names; family name; height in inches and centimeters; a description of the flowers, leaves, and fruit; blooming period, life cycle (perennial, annual, etc.), origin (native or not); zone and habitat, and general part of Colorado to be found (west half, east half, or throughout). This is followed by a short paragraph of notes, which may include information on biology, similar species, etymology of the scientific name, and other information. Icons at the bottom of each species description page are designed to help you note some key characteristics at a glance, such as type of flower and leaf type.
As is common with lay-oriented field guides, the plants are grouped by prevaling color of flower, and this results in some questionable groupings (also common in these kinds of books). For example, the color of Purple Locoweed (pages 106-7) and Pacific Anemone (pages 162-3) are very nearly alike, yet the former is placed in the pink section, the latter the red. Similarly, there is no practical difference in the color of Blue Vervain (pages 38-9) and Rocky Mountain Iris (pages 140-1), yet the former is placed in the blue section, the latter in the violets. (I'd put them both in the violets, but whatever the judgment, I like consistency.) Within color groups, the plants are said to be arranged by size of the flower or flower cluster, from small to large. This results in some very dissimilar plants being placed near each other. I would rather they placed superficially similar species, which may or may not be closely related, in the same section no matter the size of the flowers. One other thing which I found disappointing was that in the introductory section, there is an explanation of the icons mentioned earlier, and by illustration, they use little color photos as examples—so little, many users will have trouble making any sense of them as they are only half an inch square. This is in marked contrast to the main photos which are often life size or larger than life and great for those whose eyesight isn't what it used to be.
Overall, I'd give this book a B+ (an A for the photos, an A- for the descriptions, and a C for the arrangement).
Adventure Publications, 2007. 428 pages, about 4½ x 6 inches, paperback. New.
Item #146. Shipping weight: 1.2 lb. Publisher's price: $16.95. Your price: $15.25 (out of stock)
George W. Scotter & Hälle Flygare, Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains
Carl Schreier, A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains
George W. Scotter & Hälle Flygare, Wildflowers of the Rocky MountainsThis is an updated edition of a book originally entitled Wildflowers of the Canadian Rockies. In this edition, the authors have extended coverage south to cover the Rocky Mountains in the US, all the way south to New Mexico. Over 360 species are described and illustrated with color photos, mostly of very good quality, many excellent.
The Rocky Mountains, as defined in the book, range from northern-central British Columbia, south through southwestern Alberta, extreme northeastern Washington, northern and south-central Idaho, western Montana, western and central Wyoming, northeastern Utah, most of western Colorado, and north-central New Mexico. The book will therefore be of most use if you wish to identify plants in those areas; but as many species included are not restricted to the Rockies, it will be useful in similar habitats outside the coverage, up to hundreds of miles away.
Plants are arranged in the book first by flower color, then alphabetically by scientific name of the family, then alphabetically by genus and species within the family/color group. This results in similar species being placed close to each other for easier comparison. Most of the plants each get a half a page, with about a third of that half page section devoted to the photo, the remainder to text description and a small range map.
The latter indicates the states and provinces within the Rockies the plant is found; the map is not concerned with distribution outside this area. For example, I know that some of the species in the book are also found in California and Arizona, but the range maps never indicate that, because California and Arizona are not Rocky Mountain states.
Descriptive information includes common and scientific names, family names, a general description of the plant, and some facts about each. The authors sometimes let some technical terms into the text, which could put off some beginners, but they do include a glossary and five pages of drawings showing the parts of a flower, types of flower clusters, and leaf characteristics which could be quite helpful. An introductory section at the front of the book describes how to identify plants, and geology, ecoregions, and vegetation zones of the Rockies.
Published by Whitecap Books, 2007. 255 pages, illus., about 6 x 9 inches, paperback. New.
Item #292. Shipping weight: 1.4 lbs. Publisher's price: $29.95 Your price: $27.00
Carl Schreier, A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains An identification guide to nearly 300 species.
Homestead Publishing, Second Edition, 2002. 224 pages, about 4½ x 8 inches, paperback. New.
Item #175. Shipping weight: 1.0 lb. Publisher's price: $18.95. Your price: $17.05
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