Wildflowers & Grasses of Kansas A Field Guide

About this book

How do you know when you're face to face with a fringe-leaf ruellia? Is that particular flower button gayfeather or dotted gayfeather? And what about the pod clinging to your pants? Could it have come from a bird-foot trefoil?

For anyone venturing out into the wilds of Kansas and the region, identifying plants just got a whole lot easier. Michael Haddock has updated and expanded his guide to more than 400 wildflowers, grasses, sedges, and rushes. This guide documents many of the state's most common and conspicuous species-as well as some seldom encountered or listed in field guides – and includes many that are found throughout the Great Plains. This revised and expanded edition of Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas supersedes earlier guides not only in the number of species it includes – plus its coverage of grasses – but also in its spectacular, true-to-life colour photos.

The first edition of Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide (2005) quickly became a highly popular resource for people interested in the flora of Kansas. In the nearly twenty years since the original publication, there have been advances in our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of vascular plants. Studies of DNA, macro- and micromorphology, cytology, phenology, ecology, and biogeography have affected the circumscriptions and names of some of the families, genera, and species recognized in the first edition. Consequently, an important component of this revision is the update to nomenclature and the circumscription of taxa along lines that are more consistent with current knowledge.

Perfect for the backpack or glove compartment, Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas offers a wealth of quick-access information and finding aids graced with colour that leaps off the page, making plant identification a joy rather than a chore. It's a book guaranteed to send even chronic homebodies out into the great outdoors in search of these elusive blooms.

Contents

Preface to the Revised and Expanded Edition
Preface to the 2005 Edition
Introduction
- Kansas
- Prairies
- Wildflowers
- Grasses
- Plant Morphology
- Plant Names
- Arrangement of This Book

Wildflowers
- Flowers Blue, Lavender, Purple, or Violet
- Flowers Pink or Red
- Flowers White, Green, or Greenish White
- Flowers Yellow or Orange
Grasses
- Grass-Like Plants

Finding Aids
- Finding Aid for Blue, Lavender, Purple, or Violet Flowers
- Finding Aid for Pink or Red Flowers
- Finding Aid for White, Green, Greenish-White Flowers
- Finding Aid for Yellow or Orange Flowers
- Finding Aid for Grasses or Grass-Like Plants

Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Michael John Haddock is the former associate dean of the Research, Education, and Engagement Division at Kansas State University Libraries and the coauthor of Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines in Kansas and Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds.