This book is out of print but used copies are available from online retailers. Observer Book of Wildflowers Collins Wild Flower Guide is an indispensable guide for all those with an interest in the countryside, whether amateur or expert. This book is out of print but used copies are available from online retailers. Collins Flower Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Flowers of Britain and Europe The addition of Latin names alongside illustrations in the new edition saves time and avoids mistakes.

Recent research in molecular systematics using techniques of DNA sequencing has resulted in a revision of the family relationships between some species of plants. Much of this is a consequence of an international collaborative research project, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group or APG. The APG system has now been incorporated into the most recent edition of Stace’s standard British flora and has been followed in this new edition of the Guide. In some cases, such as the splitting up of the Scrophulariaceae and the Liliaceae into a number of separate families, this has resulted in some unfamiliar changes although in many cases they had already been predicted by traditional taxonomy." This guide covers approx. 1100 species of wildflower including grasses, sedges and rushes but excludes trees. The guide is organised by families. There is a handy short cut to flower identity (using for example number of petals or flower type) to help get you to the right section of the book, but you then have to work through the photos to try and pinpoint your plant, there are no keys.

Plant identification for beginners

The second edition has been updated to take into account the current phylogenetic (i.e. using DNA) understanding of plant relationships. For example, Eyebrights ( Euphrasia spp.) and Yellow rattle ( Rhinanthus minor) are now placed within Orobanchaceae, whereas previously they were in Scrophulariaceae. Names have been updated, for example Galium mollugo is now called G. album, and Leontodon autumnale has been updated to Scorzoneroides autumnalis. There is a very handy key to the top 20 families of flowering plant (approx. 70% of species belong to just these families), you are then directed to the key for that family. You could try to locate your plant simply by scanning the illustrations but they are not particularly useful for this purpose. Each species has a paragraph with details of habit, flowers, leaves, distinguishing features, habitat and distribution though there are no distribution maps.

I have found the book straightforward to use and it is a good introduction to identification keys for those who have just started looking more closely at some of the plants they come across when they are out in the countryside. For those looking to gain more experience it may come in useful alongside other floras: it can sometimes be helpful to have more than one reference to enable you to confirm a tentative ID by following a different key or description. This is an updated version of a book which was first published in 2009 as the 'Collins Flower Guide', which has been renamed presumably to make it clear that it is a guide to wild flowers rather than those grown in gardens! It covers Britain and Ireland and contains a combination of illustrations and identification keys: those interested in wild plants may have previously seen this combination in the Francis Rose guide. This post is an extended version of “Field Guides to Inspire You,” featured in our Summer 2020 Special Edition of North East Nature. This special digital-only issue is available to everyone.There is a useful glossary of terms used, brief descriptions of flower structure, fruit and seed types and leaf shapes, and descriptions of different types of habitat. There are a few words used in the main text, which are not to be found in the glossary. Examples are: aerial stems; crenate leaves; lenticels; septa; stipe and ternate. Thus some plant (Latin) names have also changed, and the new edition reflects these changes. Where the names differ from those in the first edition they are added in parentheses following the new name for reference. The book has also been completely reset and redesigned throughout.