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US Mall 1 - National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees--W: Western Region (National Audubon Society Field Guides)
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List Price: $19.95
Our Price: $10.94
Your Save: $ 9.01 ( 45% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Turtleback
Dewey Decimal Number: 582.16097
EAN: 9780394507613
ISBN: 0394507614
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 640
Publication Date: 1980-06-12
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: 1980-06-12
Studio: Knopf
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Audubon is top of the line
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but flawed
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well-thought out Book
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A few comments
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lot's of pictures
Comment: Lot's of pictures in the book. Not super user friendly, but still really good and informative.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Audubon is top of the line
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but flawed
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well-thought out Book
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A few comments
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lot's of pictures
Comment: Lot's of pictures in the book. Not super user friendly, but still really good and informative.
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