The upcoming Flora of Virginia is excellent. I was using a pre-release version las summer and it is excellent.
Neahga On Sat, May 7, 2011 at 1:07 PM, Jason Hernandez <[email protected] > wrote: > 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 >
