National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region

National Audubon Society Field Guides

by Richard Spellenberg, National Audubon Society

This fully revised edition brings a new level of beauty, accuracy, and usefulness to the field guide that wildflower enthusiasts have relied upon for more than 20 years.

More than 940 all-new, full-color images show the wildflowers of western North America close-up and in their natural habitats. The guide has been completely revised to make identification in the field easier than ever. Images are grouped by flower color and shape and keyed to clear, concise descriptions that reflect current taxonomy.

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

896 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 1979

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not the easiest of field guides due to their size and cross-referencing quirks, but still a wonderful resource I've used for more than two decades. North America, as Lady Bird Johnson knew best, has wonderful wildflowers.

[Md · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has too much of a desert bias. That's understandable considering the curator's pedigree, but the Audubon Society needs to make more than one guide for the western region. Too many coastal plants are missing and there aren't enough detailed pictures of leaves. Much of the time the flower won't tell you what plant it is because it's not at full maturity.

Many flowers also look different throughout their lifespans. For instance, one of the most interesting flowers in the western region is the western pasque flower. If you've hiked at alpine heights in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and parts of California, Nevada, and Utah, you've seen it, but maybe don't know it. In late summer, it turns into this whispy greenish/grayish longhair thing that looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book. From experience, this is when people are most interested in what it is. I hear it all the time, fellow trail users/tourists are constantly asking about this flower. The flower is in this book, but there's almost no way you'd be able to identify it if, like most people, it only grabs your interest that time of year.

The book has occasionally come in handy but it's mostly been a disappointment. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's anything that's better. I wouldn't bother taking this with me on a trail. It's not worth its weight. Take a picture and attempt to look it up later.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars

[Pj · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful glossy photos as any Audubon field guides have. It works well as basic guide. However, more than once, the photo of a flower-only doesn't help. Many times, the leaves need to be seen to confidently identify the wildflower. For me I found one specific to the Rockies region with more in-depth information.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I have a general curiosity about nearly everything, flowers were not necessarily among them. That is until one day I came across a strange orchid like bloom literally growing out of some rocks on a side of a hill. It seemed to thrive solely off the little trickles of water that flowed over the rock's surface onto it's exposed roots. I picked it with a mind to show it to my girlfriend but within five minutes it withered to a shriveled & formless state that was hardly worth sharing. For something that seemed to live off of next to nothing it apparently couldn't be without it for very long.

Now my interest was peaked. Having found something out of the ordinary that resisted being shared outside of it's own environment I had to know more about it. This was in the early nineties before the internet was readily available, in fact html hadn't even come into being and plain text ruled the day, let alone there being anything like a proper search engine that could instantly answer all if our trivial questions. So, very thoughtfully, my girlfriend picked me up a copy of this book to solve the mystery of what this strange flower was. (A monkey flower, by the way)

Back then, I was a delivery driver for a large overnight package service up in a rural area of northern California. I averaged roughly 200 miles a day and found myself in back roads and byways few people other than the residents that lived there ever get to see. In the springtime, the hillsides, fields & forests would erupt into a wide variety of spectacular displays of wildflowers. Despite the fact that I had little time to traipse amongst the daisy's, so to speak, I carried this book with me everyday should I ever come across something I needed to identify.

Frankly, it didn't get much practical use in identifying other discoveries but it sure got battered around to give the appearance of a well thumbed treasure. I eventually got around to just reading little bits of it during my lunch hour nearly sparking me to want to begin a search to find certain specimens... But in the end I just took what came my way. I had no time for such pursuits but this book brought them all to me effortlessly at arms reach, one colorful & informative page after another.

[Autumn Eden-Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this guide as a companion to my North American field guide since it specializes in the Western region and has helped me to identify flowers along the coast. The water proof cover is nice and the size is handy but I do with the book was a little bigger. I have also found that a couple of the flower shots are not quite in focus but it is just a goal for me to get a better shot to submit to their contests.

[Patrick\ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still hard to get flowers in a book - at least so you can make right identification. Too many species for those covered in the text. There are definite escapees. It's the way it is, though we might be losing some, making my concern meaningless.

[And Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understandably limited in the amount of information they can cover (due to limited size of the books), the National Audubon Society Field Guides are amazing detailed for the animals they do encompass. I love them and often carry them around to help identify objects of my curiosity.

[pjr8888 · Rating 5 out of 5]

my much paged, turtleback edition is the direct precursor of this edition. mine is a Borzhoi Book, publised by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. it was publised July 26, 1979, reprinted seven times. Ninth Printing, October 1988.

this manual has fostered much wonder and brought much joy!

[Patrick Oden · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Spring! The flowers are blooming. This is a good, though quite incomplete, way to start figuring out what those blooming flowers are.

[Nick]

Fabulous reference guide! Color photographs organized by type of flower. Really fun to take this out on an outing and discover the beauty of our world....

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love wildflowers, and this gives me an excuse to look at them more closely. Plus, they sit still, not like birds.

[Sara]

the best for spring hikes

[Don Gubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent

[Julaine]

Source: A & B Sound