California Desert Flowers: An Introduction to Families, Genera, and Species

by Sia Morhardt, J. Emil Morhardt

This easy-to-use guide to the most visible families of California desert flowers includes family and genus keys, color photographs of nearly 300 species, and a wealth of diagrams. Created as a primer on identification to family and genus, California Desert Flowers takes readers to a new level of understanding and appreciation of wildflower relationships and their habitats and adaptations.

295 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2004

Reviews

[Ivy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just got back from a camping trip in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where I saw a lot of wildflowers. My colleague Judith saw this book at the library and showed it to me. It's a great intro to wildflowers in CA deserts. You can go into depth and become a wildflower nerd, learning the biological names for parts of flowers, flower families, etc. or you can just look at the pretty pictures and identify the flowers you've seen. It focuses on desert and cactus flowers found in SoCal desert parks including Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and of course Anza-Borrego. Really great book with lovely photographs by a husband-wife team of wildflower and outdoor enthusiasts who took all their own pictures and did the cute botanical illustrations.

[Zepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good pictures of flowers make this a great browse, but they are not always useful in identification. The keys, however are excellent and accessible to non-botanists. The section in each family chapter on Similar Families is a good complement to the keys. The text is solid, with some good trivia and habitat descriptions, but at times wordy- ok, except that a smaller book would be easier to take into the field. It is a sturdy book, at least, and definitely worth beating up in the Chuckwalla mountains.
Oh, this is a book on flowers- conspicuous flowers. Don't be surprised to find that jojoba or your favorite cholla is missing.

[Judi]

Don't plan a trip to the desert without this book! With great photos and easy-to-follow identification info, this book will make any desert trip more enjoyable.