Imagine an urban oasis with hundreds of thousands of trees and whose mayor wants to plant a million more. That sylvan place is New York City, and this is a guide to the diverse trees that line its streets. Field Guide to the Street Trees of New York City acquaints New Yorkers and visitors alike with fifty species of trees commonly found in the neighborhoods where people live, work, and travel. Beautiful, original drawings of leaves and stunning photographs of bark, fruit, flower, and twig accompany informative descriptions of each species. Detailed maps of the five boroughs identify all of the city's neighborhoods, and specific addresses direct readers exactly where to find a good example of each tree species.
Trees provide invaluable benefits to the Big Apple: they reduce the rate of respiratory disease, increase property values, cool homes and sidewalks in the summer, block the harsh winds of winter, clean the air, absorb storm water runoff, and provide habitat and food for the city's wildlife. Leslie Day encourages all New Yorkers to be thoughtful and caring stewards of the city's urban forest and shares inspirational stories of the people and organizations that care for the city's trees.
Leslie Day is a biology and life science teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School. She developed the City Naturalists Summer Institute with the Central Park Conservancy and is the author of Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, also published by Johns Hopkins.
Trudy Smoke is a professor of English at Hunter College, City University of New York, and a talented writer, photographer, and illustrator.
Dr. Day... A sort of Julia Child of nature.
- New York Times
"This little gem fills you in on everything finned, furred, feathered, or leafed, and how to find it, in all five boroughs." - House and Garden
"Leslie Day ('a child of Manhattan') reveals hidden depths of this urban behemoth... A wonderful guide to the green side of the Big Apple."
- Guardian