The Wild Flower Key: Ultimate Guide to Plant Identification in the Field - With or Without Flowers | Perfect for Hiking, Botany Studies & Nature Exploration

The first edition of Rose's "Wild Flower Key" appeared 25 years ago, immediately becoming one of the handiest illustrated plant guides ever produced and about the best available for British flowering plants. It covered all native and long-naturalised flowering plants of the British Isles except for grasses, sedges and rushes in addition to the commoner plants of NW Europe. That added up to 1450 species covered.The second edition is similar to the first in most respects and builds on the strengths of the previous edition. In fact, it is so similar that I think I could have got by with my old, well-thumbed first edition copy. As one would guess from the title, this guide has a strong emphasis on keys, and they are meant to be used in plant identification - together with the text and illustrations, of course. There is a 23 page general key to families at the beginning of the book and additional keys throughout that treat important families and genera. In this edition, some groups are provided with entirely new keys. However, the 51 pages of vegetative keys by habitat remain unchanged. I used the keys of the first edition a lot and found them to be very good indeed.As for the plates, most of them are unchanged, although the quality of printing appears to have improved somewhat. The illustrations are simple, clear, detailed and ideally suited to plant identification. In some cases there are new line drawings comparing the key features of similar species. The succinct text is set opposite the illustrations, so that all information on a species is found on a single page spread. The text has been revised and there are new "ID tips" boxes to highlight differences between similar species. Over 1600 species are now treated and the coverage has changed slightly to focus exclusively on the British Isles. The species selected include all native flowering plants except for grasses, sedges and rushes, plus the commoner introduced species. The extremely difficult complexes such as Alchemilla, Rubus, Sorbus, Euphrasia, Taraxacum and Hieracium are partially treated. Scarcer introduced plants, widely planted conifers and non-flowering plants are not covered.The only other similar guide to the British flora would be Blamey, Fitter & Fitter's "Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland", published in 2003. At the end of the day, the choice comes down to personal preference, since both guides are authoritative. Rose perhaps has the technical edge and is often recommended for use on university field courses. The following points may be helpful in deciding between the two:-*both cover the British Isles*both include the plants you are likely to see - basically all native flowering plants plus the widely established exotics*both sell for approximately the same price - about £15Rose...*excludes grasses, sedges & rushes (that's fine as these are well-treated in other works)*excludes ferns, horsetails & clubmosses (fair enough, since they are not flowering plants)*emphasises the use of keys as the principal means of identification*includes textual range informationBlamey, Fitter & Fitter...*includes all grasses, sedges & rushes*includes ferns, horsetails & clubmosses*employ few keys*include mapsIf you can afford it, but both these books - you won't be disappointed. If you are serious about identifying British plants, you should also get hold of Stace's "New Flora of the British Isles" or its compact edition, the "Field Flora of the British Isles".This is an older book, passed through many hands. Its in fair shape and a library reject. Still it is useful and is the type of key system I was needing.This is one of the handiest illustrated field guides ever produced and about the best available for British flowering plants. It covers all native and long-naturalised flowering plants of the British Isles except for grasses, sedges and rushes. It also includes the commoner plants of NW Europe. That adds up to 1450 species covered, 1400+ fully described and 1000+ illustrated. 48 page general key to families and 47 pages of vegetative keys by habitat. The succinct text is set opposite the illustrations, so that all information on a species is found on a single page spread. The illustrations are simple, clear, detailed and ideally suited to plant identification. This is a book that has given me hundreds of hours of pleasure in the field and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the new edition. The only other similar guide to the British flora would be Blamey, Fitter & Fitter's "Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland". At the end of the day, the choice comes down to personal preference as both guides are authoritative.I was recommended this book on a course I attended with Plantlife as its the definitive book on the subject. It is very technical and not a book the beginner should buy at its hefty price. Plant identification is done through plant attributes and does not require it to be in flower, a major advantage to intermediates such as myself/. Easier books reference via colour of flowers etc. I can thoroughly recommend this book to intermediates and above, lovely diagram and virtually every plant you can imagine. We were also recommended to get Faith Anstey's "Pocket guide to Wildflower Families" to use this book properly, so its not a cheap option.Yep never really had much interest in them as some one with degrees in zoology and freshwater fauna, plants where always just "those green things" yes I always knew they where important and I did try to get interested in them a few times but just couldn't keep any interest. A little bit of a career change where I did need to know a little more about them or at least be able to identify particular ones brought me back to trying to get interested again and so I purchased a copy of The Wild Flower Key and set off on some self study and exploration of the botanical world.Why did I never buy this book before and use that to help me push back the verdant green foliage that was blocking my view ? I don't know but I'm glad I bought this. I have found it so simple and easy to work through the keys and the first couple of times I used the vegetative key I thought I would be hopelessly lost - yes I took the odd wrong turn but the detail in this book quickly let me know I had and a quick back track and continuation put me back on the right track again. To me identifying a plant with no flower and using the vegetative key should be like trying to read Sanskrit - fortunately it's anything but ! I now find myself walking in the park or countryside or even down the leafy streets where I live and being able not only to identify a good deal of the plants I see there but also to recall their binomial latinised names - absolutely amazing and I owe it all to this little book!It really is very well set out the pictures/drawings are amazingly detailed, there is really good detail in the text describing the various characters of the plant that helps you to really double check that you have followed the key correctly or if you've just "jumped in" as you know the common name of the plant or you think that you are pretty sure of what it is again it helps you to quickly confirm you are correct or that you've made an error. The only slightly annoying thing about this book from a beginners point of view is the amount of abbreviations that it uses e.g. fl for flower etc but there is a glossary explaining these and it covers these at the start as well and you do very quickly get used to them and soon recognise the abbreviations as words without even thinking about it.The tight fitting plastic dust jacket is also great as it not only keeps the cover clean but also keeps it dry when using it in the field! the book is also reaonably light in weight and easily slips in to a small rucksack pocket or even the pocket on a pair of field trousers, depending on the type you are wearing obviously !All in I would highly recommend this book to a beginer but also to a botanist/ecologist that has a good deal of experience and expertise as well - I now know quite a few more experienced botanists that also swear by this book for taking it in to the field.This one of the best floras on sale in the UK and useable to identify plants which aren't in flower. It has a plastic protective cover for use in the field. I there is one criticism, it's a little heavy to carry all day but it is pretty comprehensive so sometimes we have to suffer for our science. It's recommended by several teachers from the Open University so must be good.My first 'proper' wildflower book purchase - bought because I love photographing wildflowers and live in Cumbria. First used this book with a plant that my wife immediately identified as a 'Celandine'. Followed the excellent key-system upon which this book is built and arrived (correctly) at 'lesser-celandine'.The book has a concise section on the parts of a flower, and a very good illustrated glossary covering terms used within the book. So, if when working through the keys you encounter the term 'raceme' for example - hey presto; the glossary will soon put you straight via an easy-to-understand text and superb little line-drawing.Once you get the hang of what the various parts of a flower are called and several terms for leaf types and arrangements (again aided by the glossary) you're ready to tackle just about anything you may come across.I then (whilst spending a week in a cottage at Hardraw with my Wife) came across a tiny little knot of flowers on a plant growing between the stones used to build the bridge over a beck. It had tiny white flowers and little sticky 'blobs' on minute hairs all over it..... "Looks like a job for ROSE" I cried!Working through the keys and closely examining several macro photographs taken of the beastie I arrived at 'Rue-leaved Saxifrage' (Saxifraga tridactylites) on p243. Again Rose was bang-on target (having double-checked online images of same). One thing I did notice was that Rose appeared to have neglected to mention the sticky 'blobs' of this plant?This book is already giving me great pleasure as a pure amateur - I love solving the mystery of a newly encountered plant!My advice is to use the keys on a couple of already-known plants to get the hang or the keys and then enjoy.As a final comment the illustrations are a delight in this book and the pages and print are of a very high standard - it even came with a clear plastic cover!For £16 this book is a very worthwhile purchase and it arrived 3 days after I ordered it. I'm now looking forward to buying a companion book on grasses and sedges etc.....My advice - buy this book, you will love it.The key took me a while to get used to, but once it 'clicked' it does makes things easier. Persevere and practice on that I'd say. This is a truly great book with clear illustrations and descriptions. I use it alongsde another identification book. This book is a must for anyone with an interest in wild flowers. Well worth every penny!