Rocky Mountain Wildflowers: From Northern Arizona and New Mexico to British Columbia

Peterson Field Guides #17

by John J. Craighead

12mo, 1963, PP.277, From Northern Arizona And New Mexico To British Columbia

Genres: Nature, Field Guides, Reference, Science, Nonfiction

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

John Johnson Craighead is an American conservationist, naturalist and researcher.
He is the twin brother of the late Frank C. Craighead Jr..

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first field guide that I really studied. In the middle of the book there are 24 color plates of flowers with each plate having pictures of 8 or 9 flowers. I studied those images and I quizzed myself until I could correctly name all of them.

Of course, there's also text. The following information is given for each type of flower:
• Family & Scientific name
• Other names
• Description
• Flowering season
• Where found
• Interesting facts

After I'd committed the names of the flowers to memory, I read the interesting facts about them. Here the authors have included such things as the meaning of the Latin nomenclature, edibility, medicinal uses, fodder value, and connections with other plants/animals in the ecosystem. (My Botany prof in college scoffed at this section, so I liked to quote the factoids just to see his reaction.)

Finally, I did focus on the botanical information and added other field guides to my shelves.

Bottom line: This is a wonderful guide for anyone who wants to learn about the local flora.

A useful field guide is something that I refer to every year ... but I seldom 'read' it as thoroughly as I used to.

[Tracy Williams-Little · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was gifted this book when I was about 7 and I instantly fell in love with it and with wildflowers. I still have it, it still has my notes starting almost 50 years ago and it's still an invaluable resource. Good photos, good descriptions, good info about similar species, good advice on edible vs poisonous and it has some great examples of how some species were used in the past.

[Talitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this the other day while watching the snow fly. I'm not sure this has every plant, but I was able to identify some of the plants I've come across before in Southern Montana. Some of the pictures don't really capture how the plants look universally, but this would be a lot of fun to bring hiking/camping/fishing/insert-outdoor-activity-here. I got my laminated edition at the thrift shop and I'll be taking it on nature walks since my mother and I usually only speculate which plants are which.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this version in hardback. It's my 3rd copy. I think my dog Buff dropped my first copy in the bushes and forgot to pick it up after being distracted by exciting smells in the underbrush on one of our hikes. He was very proud of carrying my books for me and usually remembered to pick them back up if he set them down to explore.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seriously pretty, informative little thing.

[Scott Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide is part of the Peterson Field Guide series, however it is slightly different in format. There are photographs and drawings, but without with the indicator arrows that the Peterson guides typically use to show diagnostic characteristics of the species. Also, the flowers are not arranged by color, but rather by family.