United States
£ GBP
This innovative photographic guide covers the most common wildflowers and other plants found in Great Britain and Ireland, as defined by the very latest distribution maps. It is designed so that anyone faced with an unfamiliar wild plant can confidently put a name to the species or recognise that it is a less common plant needing further investigation. The identification process is based on standard botanical features that are straightforwardly described, clearly illustrated and supported by a simple visual key to families. This book can be your springboard into the wider world of botanical identification, wherever you are, and of plants both common and rare.
Rachel Hamilton has spent a lifetime teaching botany, ecology and conservation at every level, and has earned a reputation for helping newcomers understand and overcome challenges in identifying plants. Chris Gibson worked in nature conservation for three decades and now devotes his time to encouraging others to share his love of the natural world, through words, images and experiences. Robert Still is publishing director of WILDGuides, a prolific natural history author and a skilled field botanist and plant photographer.
"There is already a wide choice of new and established wild flower identification books on the market, and so it takes something pretty special to stand out, and that is exactly what this latest addition to the WILDGuides series achieves. British & Irish Wild Flowers and Plants: A Pocket Guide is a game-changer. Unlike some of its competitors, the focus of this new field guide is clearly on what a beginner botanist needs to know to identify wild plants for the first time, rather than assuming any prior knowledge. [...] One of the most dispiriting and unsatisfactory experiences for a new botanist is the need to ‘page flick’ through a whole field guide to try and match the flower they have found to an illustration. Here, a clear and pragmatic process is set out to help someone new to wild flowers narrow down their find to a group of plants, so that they can quickly zero in on the likely set of species descriptions. Identification keys for plant families have always been notoriously difficult for beginners to navigate, so this is a real achievement [...] I am often asked to recommend a field guide for the introductory identification courses I teach, and this will be top of my list going forward. And while its value for beginners to wild flower identification is clear, it could also help intermediate field botanists plug gaps in their knowledge, help them separate out some of the trickier or newer widespread species, and provide ideas for how best they can themselves share their knowledge with beginners."
– Amanda Tuke, British Wildlife 36.3, December 2024
