Guide to Woodlands: Trees, Flowers & Fungi

About this book

This fold-out guide features 61 species of trees, wild flowers, ferns and fungi of woodland.

A woodland walk is a wonderful way to get outdoors and explore nature. And with the help of this guide, there’s something to see all year round. Beautiful colour illustrations show the key features to look out for. Concise accompanying text on the reverse side covers the height, identification notes and likely habitat of each species.

While the best display of flowers is in spring, there’s still is plenty to explore in autumn and winter, from fungi and evergreens to early flowers such as snowdrops. Many woodland flowers are at their best in spring, when the temperature has started to rise but before the leaf canopy closes. Later on in the year the flowers are replaced by fruits and seeds, including rose hips, blackberries and wild strawberries.

Mushrooms and toadstalls are most common after the first autumn storms and before the first frosts of winter. You can spot these fungi by looking at dead logs and fallen leaves. Also check old tree stumps. From Amethyst Deceiver to Stinkhorn, the woodland floor a great place to hunt. Of course, not all fungi look like mushrooms. Some common woodland species grow as brackets on dead wood, such as Turkeytail and Birch Polypore.

Identifying woodland trees is easiest in the late spring and summer, using leaves, fruits and seeds. But even without their leaves in their winter, many woodland trees can be recognised from their twigs, buds and bark. A concise guide to identifying deciduous trees in winter is a special extra feature.

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