Hi Jason Did anybody mention the national Audubon series such as the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers--E: Eastern Region - Revised Edition (National Audubon Society Field Guides)
Ling Huang Sacramento City College --- On Sat, 5/7/11, Jason Hernandez <jason.hernande...@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Jason Hernandez <jason.hernande...@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Wildflower Guides to Southeastern U.S. To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Date: Saturday, May 7, 2011, 10:07 AM I was asked by at least two people to summarize the replies to my query about Southeastern wildflower guides. Here is what I got, followed by some more of my own comments: Three respondants recommended Newcomb's Wildflower Guide for the mountains and piedmont. The problem there is, Newcomb's area map is nearly identical to that in Peterson's Northeastern/North-Central guide, so unless Newcomb's is more comprehensive than Peterson, which I already own, it is not worthwhile for me to purchase Newcomb's. I also received recommendations for Wofford's Key to the Blue Ridge Mountains; for the Lower Coastal Plain, Clewell's Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Florida Panhandle; Duncan and Duncan for the entire Eastern region (presumably both North and South -- the preview on Amazon did not let me see an area map, if any); Clair Brown's guide for Louisiana and adjacent states; and the Audubon Society's guide to the Eastern region. Also, Sorrie's about-to-be-released guide for the Carolina Sandhills (June 1). One respondant said that since there is no good guide to the entire region, he cobbles together a collection of guidebooks, scientific articles, and technical keys. Here are my thoughts: it is too bad that Peterson-style line drawings seem to be out of vogue. They can clarify what photographs obscure. For example: say we are at a site where a roadside abuts a riparian zone, in South Carolina. There are numerous yellow Senecio blooming. Is it the ruderal Senecio smalii, or the riparian Senecio glabella? Look at a guide with two separate photos, and it may be difficult to tell -- especially if the guide in question is arranged by habitat, with ruderals in a separate section from riparian species. But if there was a Peterson-style guide, arranged visually and with line drawings, we could simply turn to the page of clustered yellow rayed composites. All Senecio species of that type would be lined up there as line drawings, with handy diagnostic arrows pointing to the key details -- in this case, the width and lobing of the leaves -- to distinguish S. smallii from S. glabella; there would then be a note on habitat at the end of each description, to add a further important detail. Peterson's system, in my opinion, has never been improved upon. One responadant noted that "being a guide," the recommended volume did not have the best species coverage. Well, it is true that no guidebook has the coverage of the technical floras; but Peterson's come close, given his admittedly arbitrary definition of a "wildflower": herbaceous angiosperms, excluding Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Juncaceae. To take the example I know best: before coming to the Southeast, I lived for over twelve years in the Pacific Northwest. The Peterson wildflower guide to that region is Niehaus and Ripper, "Pacific States Wildflowers." In twelve years, 98% of the wildflowers (by Peterson's definition) I encountered were in Niehaus and Ripper; only rarely did I need to consult the flora by Hitchcock and Cronquist. Any guidebook less comprehensive than that is, in my opinion, substandard. Given that Peterson's wildflower guides cover every part of the contiguous 48 states except the Southeast, I wonder if it is worthwhile contacting the folks at Houghton-Mifflin about this? Jason Hernandez
