Flowering plants provide a welcome and colourful sight, whether long-loved shrubby perennials or bright and fleeting annuals. They are vital to our ecology and a clear indication of the health of the countryside.

A visual guide to wild flowers, trees, shrubs, herbs, heathers, grasses, cacti, aquatics and more.

An expert identification guide to more than 2,000 of the most prominent plants of North America is complemented by easy-reference watercolor illustrations of an extensive variety of trees, flowers, shrubs, herbs and grasses.

Since Kentucky is situated at a biological crossroads in eastern North America, citizens and visitors to this beautiful state are likely to be greeted by an astonishing variety of wildflowers. This non-technical guide—featuring more than five hundred dazzling full-color photographs by award-winning photographer Thomas G. Barnes—is the state's indispensable guide to the most common species in the Commonwealth. With this book, readers will learn to identify and appreciate Kentucky wildflowers and ferns by matching photographs and leaf line drawings to the more than six hundred and fifty species of flowers covered in the book. Extremely practical and simple to use, the guide's color photographs and line drawings appear with plant descriptions for easy identification, and plants are grouped by flower color and blooming season. Each species listing includes the plant's common and scientific name, plant family, habitat, frequency, and distribution throughout Kentucky, with similar species listed in the notes. There is no other volume that covers the flora of Kentucky with such ease of identification. The first new statewide guide to appear in thirty years, with its combination of high quality photographs, illustrations, portability, and easy organization of information, Wildflowers and Ferns of Kentucky is an essential addition to the library or field pack of the wildflower enthusiast, naturalist, and anyone else who loves the outdoors.

"This volume spotlights some of the finest imagery of its kind. It features 120 plates by Mary E. Eaton, who was a staff illustrator of the New York Botanical Garden from 1911 to 1932. Also included are 8 illustrations by botanical illustrator E. J. Geske. The first-rate botanical illustrations remain fresh and attractive to the modern eye"--

Evolution of land plant -- Plants and human culture -- Naming plants -- Classification and the angiosperm phylogeny group

Offers information on growing and propagating over 1,000 different species of wildflower, and includes an encyclopedia of plants native to the United States and Canada.