back to the Plant Identification Index

 

I want to welcome my students to

books that make this
web site possible...

 

There are few things I love more in this world than books. I feel a great joy in being able to find the answers to questions I have. Books make it possible for me to know anything I want, when I want.

(Needless to say, I do quite a bit of research online, but books are faster WHEN you own the right one for the task at hand. Plus, at this time, online sources are still often only scientific in their information. You rarely run into a transcribed reminiscence where a plant is described and where you get a truer feel for the place the plant had/has in the lives of people. There are delightful exceptions, of course, and I expect many more as historical societies and families post private papers! A major exception to the general paucity of information on traditional uses of plants is work being posted online by a various Native American groups and individuals. See NativeTech.

Books are still where you will find the "passionate" plantsmen/women who fill the pages with stories of discovery , poems, games, recipes, and crafts that place the plant into history and a culture.

 

The catch is you have to have the books if, like me, you feel the urge to track down some mystery at six o'clock in the morning. Libraries are wonderful places but they are not open all the time. Not to mention the best of all scenarios, digging into a book you feel sure has the answer after a tricky search AND digging into a good snack at the same time! Libraries frown on crumbs.

My house is filled with books I never look at....but I might! How can I resist a good text on parisitology for ten cents?! You never know but that could be just the place to find out whats bugging the dog some year. And the book on building sun dials is too useful to pass up....and the history of lactobacillus...need I say more?

When I decided what our Schoolyard Habitat needed was a guide to every photosynthesizing organism in it I turned to my botany books (they live in the kitchen bookcases mostly). The earlier guides are from around the Civil War, not counting a Dover reprint of Gerard's Herbal from 1598. Then a great number of my most useful books are from the turn of the century through the late 1930s. After that comes the new stuff, which is very useful but rarely has the soul of the writer visible. What I mean by that is, in older nature books that are quite serious identification aids, not just poetic gushings on the some specialty, the writer has opinions, even prejudices, that color the text to lesser and greater degrees. The book has a personality! When you find a book whose personality attracts you it is like meeting someone you know will be a friend.

 

 

 

 

That is not to say you can't find accurate, thorough and very useful books printed now that have personality....it is just not as likely. My favorite modern book is the highly respected Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. If you only want one book, get that one. Donald Wyman is the famous plantsman from the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plains Massachusetts. The book is a fine combination of encyclopaedic knowledge and practical advice from the mouth of a man who really knows what he is talking about.

 

The best books often draw upon the best books of the generation before them as well as personal experience. You cannot expect any one person to have experience with all the plants in the world! An example is the Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia. It draws upon Bailey's The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture (1930). If you are serious about plants and want a more thorough and world-wide view Bailey's is considered THE reference to have as a foundation to your collection. Liberty Hyde Bailey was an interesting man who wrote many books introducing plants and good gardening practices to people. He wrote for experts and he wrote books for children.

 

 

I am showing you the covers of a couple older books. I find the artwork charming.

 

New books would be too expensive if they made them like this...so they don't. You can find old books for less money than new ones too! (Until you begin to want special old books anyway.)

 

 

New books that are really useful and informative can often be picked up at garage sales, sale tables at book stores and at library sales.Two of the three books to the left here have been VERY useful. Herb Gardens of Delight is a silly book but it does have bits and pieces of silliness that are nice 'extra" information...and it was cheap. Green Immigrants was one of those books sold for peanuts everywhere...it is a fascinating collection of histories of what countries plants came from to North America.

 

This book sold bazillions of copies so you can find it used.
Euell Gibbons became sort of a celebrity when this book
caught the imagination of people who were not used to the
idea of eating plants that were growing wild.

You have probably heard me say that our worst "weed" in the school garden, Lamb's Quarters, is good eating...well there is
a ton of stuff growing around town and in Connecticut that you
could eat and enjoy if you knew what to look for.

This book teaches you how to safely live off the land.

Barbara Clark of our Nature Center is an expert in
this area as well. Ask her if you have any questions.

Earlier I mentioned Gerard. The big book on the left is a copy of his famous Herball. (pronounced erb-all)

To see a part of a page from the book click HERE.

See if you can guess what plant the page is talking about!
If you think you know click HERE and send me your answer. If you are right I will give you credit on the Waddell What's New page (your first name and your teacher's name will be posted; if you are not from Waddell School add your school and state and country if appropriate!)
I know you know this plant but names and uses and opinions have changed a lot in the last 500 years!

 

This paperback is really cool. Very clear and simply drawn ink sketches show the seed pod that is left standing in winter. This is the a fun book to take on winter hikes, cross-country skiing or walks around the block if you enjoy being a plant detective.

I just found a plant in it (Penny Cress) that I had no other way to identify. I figured I might have a shot with this book because the stem and seeds looked tough enough to hang around through winter.

 

I will be planting Penny Cress seeds in our Schoolyard Habitat now that I know what it is. They are nifty weird seeds. Next year you can use them in your science class!

 

 

 

 

This book, Wildflowers, is a VERY useful book. Homer House chose to photograph each plant against a plain background. This makes seeing the shapes much easier than the Audubon guide which is awful on that point. House also put only one or two plants to a page, which are large (12" tall).

 

List of books that have been useful
that you might want to get someday if the price is right,
and don't forget the library if it isn't:
It is so boring to do this list :-( I'll add more when I can stand it.

This first group is of excellent "foundation" books.

This second group is icing on the cake. If you do a lot with plants you need books like these but not necessarily these exact books. Different books will stress different things and you never know what you will need next.

 

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