Unless you are a botanist and are comfortable keying out plants in a flora, the only way for the rest of us to identify interesting plants seen while out hiking is a good field guide or two or three. Field guides don’t identify all the plants in a region, but only the plants you are likely to stumble across while out and about in that region. And different field guides will overlap, so why would you only have one on your front seat? No, you need a few plant field guides and hopefully they sit next to your bird guide, binoculars, etc., and okay, I confess to also having a copy of Arizona Flora that rides around in my truck too, because you never know when you may actually key out a plant and that’s fun too.
So here’s a reminder about the field guide I’ve reviewed. The title is, Grassland ID for Everyone, Except Folks That Take Boring Technical Stuff Too Seriously, by Jim Koweek and photos by Dale Armstrong. It’s put out by Rafter Lazy K Publishing. And here are a few places to find it locally: Bisbee Books and Music (favorite local bookstore), Tohono Chul Park, Old Town Artisans, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and yes, even Amazon. Now you know.
And on a personal note, I’ve known Jim for close to 40 years and that’s pretty cool.
Berberis fremontii is in the Barberry family or Berberidaceae. If you look up barberry plants in a field guide, a flora or on line,...
Just a couple things about this episode; the genus Linaria has been assigned to the European or Eurasian species of toadflax and Nuttallanthus is...
Petey is enthusiastic about the naturally occurring grass parks that create magical openings in the coniferous forests of the White Mountains.
