A Field Guide to Wildflowers : Northeastern and North-Central North America (Peterson Field Guides) | 
| Author: Margaret Mckenny
Creator: Roger Tory Peterson
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $19.00
Buy Used: $6.82
You Save: $12.18 (64%)
New (30) Used (28) Collectible (1) from $6.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 22860
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 4.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0395911729
Dewey Decimal Number: 582.13097
UPC: 046442911726
EAN: 9780395911723
ASIN: 0395911729
Publication Date: March 15, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark.
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Product Description
Grouped by color and by plant characteristics, 1,293 species in 84 families are described and illustrated. Included here are all the flowers you're most likely to encounter in the eastern and north-central U.S., westward to the Dakotas and southward to North Carolina and Arkansas, as well as the adjacent parts of Canada.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Great help for class wildflower project October 11, 2007
This book really helped my son with his wildflower project for science class.
Many of the other books we checked out of the library were too complicated for him (and I) to use and were not detailed enough.
It is organized by flower color which made it easier to get a correct identification. The only down side is that all of the flowers are not pictured in color...some of them are drawn in black and white within a color family.
However, I would recommend this book as it was easy for my 8th grade son to use on his own for the project.
 indispensable! January 26, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have used Petersons books for decades, and continue to update to new
issues while cherishing my issue from the 1970's. Anyone seeking to
comprehensively identify wildflowers from color plate photographs alone
is not only missing the point of field work, but may miss the flower as
well- colors look different in different light and in different photo- op's.
There are many other features to consider in correct plant ID.
The relevant ID features are often more obscure, yet are dutifully pointed
out in the Peterson guides - characteristics such as "mottled stems",
"fringed bracts", various leaf attachment features, size and range of
plant, and so on. As the director of a high quality school dealing in
herbal studies and nature research, as well as a college level teacher,
this and a small cadre of supplemental ID resources, including Steve
Brill's book, are going to remain on my list of required books for
all students , one they will use , along with their friends and family,
again and again.
A great help to flower identification January 18, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have used this book for many years and it is the easiest most comprehensive book on the subject. It is never esay to identify a flower you do not know, but with a little practice, this book is a big help.
Easiest book for everyone October 25, 2002
49 out of 50 found this review helpful
I've been teaching in the outdoors using field guides with novices for 18 years, so I offer this advice to assist beginners in choosing a wildflower guide. I have used both this book and the Newcomb book and greatly prefer this one, although Newcomb's is very good. Newcomb's uses a series of keys, which I guess some people find more "sophisticated." Although the key in Newcombs isn't hard to use, I find that the Peterson guide is faster and easier to use in the field. I have also observed that beginners are less likely to make mistakes using the Peterson wildflower guide. The big plus of the Peterson book is the identification system. The flowers are first arranged by color and the book is color coded. Although wild plants may not always be showing their flower colors, 9 times out of ten when the amateur is identifying a flowering plant, it will be in bloom. You can use the Peterson guide to learn the key characterisitics of a blooming plant so that later on when it is not blooming you will still be able to find it in the book and recoginze it. In the next stage of the Peterson wildflower guide's organization, the plants are arranged by similar visual characteristics. There is a simple outline and description of this system at the beginning of the book. The book utilizes helpful icons, which are featured at the tops of all the descriptive pages for quick thumb-through reference. I have found this icon system very helpful in teaching plant identification because it provides a systematic approach that the beginner can pick up quickly and easily. The Peterson system greatly facilitates intial accuracy of identification at the level of plant family. Once you learn the system of what to look for when observing a plant, the icons allow speed and efficiency when using the book in the field. At the final stage of identification, the species level, the Peterson guide has excellent written descriptions and the important subtle differences between species are well highlighted, with both text and arrows on the drawings. As other reviewers have stated, the Peterson book has more illustrations than Newcomb, and the highlighted habitat/range descriptions also help in quickly placing a plant. The black and white illustrations are not bothersome since you already know the flower color, and line drawings show key characteristics clearly. The use of illustrations instead of photos is always preferred in a field guide, even though photos seem like a good idea at first glance. A good illustrator shows the plant in the best light and makes sure the key features are visible and prominent.
Best For Laymen July 27, 2001
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
I have used this book for 20 years to identify wildflowers successfully; the drawings and paintings capture the essence of the flower in a way no photo does; the book includes many less commonly found plants so you are more likely to find what you're looking for; and it is organized by flower color which is most likely to be what drew your attention in the first place. Excellent reference, easily used.
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