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National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees--E: Eastern Region (Eastern)
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Average Rating:  out of 44 Reviews
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Price: $19.95
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Sale: $10.50
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Manufacturer: Knopf
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780394507606
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Imitation Leather
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Author: NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
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Publisher: Knopf
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Edition: Chanticleer Press Ed
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Dewey Decimal Number: 582.16097
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Publication Date: 1980-05-12
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Reading Level: 716
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Description: For the untrained observer, it can be quite a challenge to sort out the many trees that make up a stand of older forest in, say, New England or the Ozarks. This well-illustrated guidebook, covering 364 species, comes to the rescue with photographs organized in several ways: by, for example, the shape of the leaf or needle, by the fruit, by the flower or cone, and by autumn coloration. Following one visible characteristic or another, the reader can narrow the range of possibilities, then turn to an informative text that describes a tree's physical characteristics, habitat, and range. Many of the species covered are relatively rare, such as the "stinking cedar" of the Georgia-Florida border; others are locally abundant, such as the paper birch of the boreal forest, used to make ice-cream sticks; still others, such as the smooth sumac, are widespread. The guidebook also covers ornamentals introduced from other continents, such as the Chinese privet and Mahaleb cherry. --Gregory McNamee
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Audubon is top of the line |
Date: 2008-12-02 |
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Details: I got this for my husband because he is always asking me what kind of tree that is... I was familiar with the Audubon books as a kid. They represent the very best, most concise and readily searchable books of this kind. Beautiful pictures. |
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Review Summary: Not bad, but flawed |
Date: 2008-10-16 |
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Details: All photos, no drawing a plus - photos of bark, leaves (both summer and fall colors), fruit. It has a rare tree the "Franklinias" not seen in the wild since 1803 and it doesn't have the Japanese maple, one of the most common trees here in the Northeast. Otherwise a good guide. |
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Review Summary: Well-thought out Book |
Date: 2008-07-18 |
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Details: Once you get used to the format of the Audubon Field Guides, they are very easy to use. I especially like the thumb tab approach to locating an entry. Like all the Audubon series, this guide is compact, well-written, precise, comprehensive, informative, brilliant color plates, tough outer cover - what's not to like? Highly recommended. |
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Review Summary: A few comments |
Date: 2008-07-12 |
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Details: This is the companion volume to the western trees edition. Having been able to spend some time on the east coast for the first time since I was a boy, I found I could only identify a handful of species, so I bought this book to see what I could identify, being familiar mostly with the west coast.
The Audubon books main strengths are in combining excellent photos of the main parts of the tree, the flowers or cones, branches, and bark, to aid in identifying the tree. Curiously, the book doesn't include photos of the entire tree, but in the text section there are drawings next to the description. This is okay too, and an expert dendrologist can often simply ID a tree from its "stature type." With a little experience with the trees in your area, you'll soon be doing the same.
I've found the Audubon books on plant identification very helpful, but I have to say I have some formal training in botany, mainly in plant taxonomy, which is a big help. The only real sure way to ID a plant is by using the formal key, but in an area where the species are limited, which is usually the case with trees in temperate zones, a picture type book can often do the trick. Just be aware that there are many pitfalls in not using the actual botanical key. (If this were the Amazon rainforest, there can be 400 species of trees in a few acres, so this approach wouldn't work).
This book uses a leaf classification key mainly, and has 10 pages devoted to flowering plants and conifers at the beginning of the book to point to the the relevant section. From there you basically leaf through that section to ID the tree. For the flowering trees, color information is provided too.
The text descriptions are brief but well done, and includes information on range, ecology, height and diameter, size of cones, leaves, and flowers, color, and uses. Overall, it's another useful and informative guide from Audobon done in the style which many people are familiar with for naturalist use, or just your casual cursiosity seeker who wants to learn more about these important plants.
By the way, for some excellent and brief key books for the west coast, look for Glen Keator's little books, which are available at bookstores and also at the Strybing Auboretum in Golden Gate Park. Glen had a Ph.D. in taxonomic botany and was the trainer for the docents in the park, also, if I remember right, and I have fond memories of spending many hours hiking while using his books, which became an invaluable aid in my undergraduate and graduate botanical education. |
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Review Summary: Lot's of pictures |
Date: 2008-07-10 |
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Details: Lot's of pictures in the book. Not super user friendly, but still really good and informative. |
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