Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 Highly recommended May 9, 2008
If you are looking to identify wildflowers of the northeast, this is the best pocket field guide out there. It includes more species than other pocket field guides and uses a systematic approach of identification.
It may take a little practice to get a handle on the system, but once you do, you will be identifying wildflowers in lickety-split time. There will be no more leafing through 50+ pages of yellow flowers to find the one you're looking at. This book will walk you through a key that will take you directly to the page your flower is on.
For those of you who like "pretty" photographic field guides, I recommend purchasing one of those as a sidekick to your Newcomb's. When I lead wildflower walks, I carry my Newcomb's with me, but I also carry a National Audubon field guide. This way, if I find a plant that isn't yet in bloom, I can show the participants a photograph of it.
 Only for Northeast USA wildflowers! March 27, 2008
This is a nice system for systematically identifying a wildflower, BUT it only covers the Northeast from Wisconsin down to Kentucky over to Virginia and up to Maine.
RI Master Gardener Advanced Education October 17, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As the RI Master Gardener Advanced Education Coordinator, I have used this book for two years in workshops delivered to our membership. The "Locator Key" and identification system is easy to use (easier than using the weed identification systems) and the drawings and descriptions are clear. Would recommend to anyone interested in identifying wildflowers or "weeds."
Best Wildflower Guide I Know August 14, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Because the keys are based on number of petals, this is the easiest identification guide I have. I take it into the field along with the Peterson's guide, which has better illustrations, and cross-check my flowers.
 Very Useful June 11, 2007
In the past, I found field guides to wildflowers very frustrating. I have both A Field Guide to Wildflowers : Northeastern and North-Central North America (Peterson Field Guides)and a Golden Wildflower guide. Because the aforementioned are organized by color first, one has to painstakingly search though all of the illustrations until a probable match is found. This is time consuming, and for me, very difficult, leading to many misidentifications.
Newcomb's Wildflower guide takes a different approach. Created for the non botanist, it begins with flower shape, then leaf location, then leaf shape, until you have a 3 digit numeric key. Next by looking under this key for more detail, you are directed to the right page(s). For me this is wonderful, it takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, you find the correct illustration and description quickly without having to page though a multitude of pink or blue or white, etc. flowers.
Admittedly, this system is not for everyone. Many people may like starting with color, but for me this guide is truly useful in the field.
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