The Wildflowers of Western America is both a field guide for the flower seeker and a book about wildflowers-a book that is both completely practical and a delight to look at and read.
Close to 300 spectacular color photographs—carefully chosen to show not only the beauty of each flower but its leaf shape and environment—are arranged according to an ingenious keying system that makes it unusually easy to identify a flower.
Yet with this book, identification is only the beginning. For each flower, the richly detailed text provides fascinating information on everything from blooming period and growing habits to associated folklore and legend-even medicinal uses and edibility and, in some cases, recipes.
Among the outstanding features of this book:
- 291 remarkable color photographs
- A Special Identification System based on color, habitat and general appearance. To identify a wildflower, you need only turn to its color group in the photographic section. Within the color group, flowers are arranged according to their habitat (Alpine, Desert, Sea Coast, etc.), and finally by their shape. Whatever their botanical relationship, flowers similar in appearance are found together—a boon for the amateur
- Detailed drawings of flower anatomy, inflorescences and leaf shape
- Detailed descriptions of nearly 400 species and 70 flower families and detailed references to several hundred other species
A section on edible wildflowers and species useful for medicine
- A glossary of botanical terms and a full index of common and scientific names
