Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians

by Dennis Horn, Tavia Cathcart, Tom Hemmerly

This is the most complete, comprehensive and informative field guide ever published on the flora of this region. Sponsored by the Tennessee Native Plant Society, this labor of love has been 14 years in the making. The result is a landmark achievement that brings the beauty and uniqueness of wildflowers to amateurs and experts alike. The focus is on Tennessee, but the Ohio Valley and Southern Appalachians are covered, encompassing all or parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. 800 color photographs, 96 line drawings, 3 full-color state and region maps.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Field Guides, Reference

496 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2005

Reviews

[Andrea]

Absolutely the best field guide for the North Georgia area. This book goes with me everywhere. It is easy enough for the lay-person to use, and detailed enough for professional naturalists. It has great coverage (1250 species) great descriptions and good pics. (I would have liked a few more line drawings along with the pics like the Rocky Mountain version of this guide.) Without getting into the dichotomous key heavy-weights, this is the BEST plant guide I have found.

[Naturegirl]

This is one of the most comprehensive field guides for flowers in the Southern Appalachians that I've seen. The book is excellent, and I find myself thumbing through it constantly to ID flowers I've seen and want to learn about. As a hiking guide and naturalist, this is an incredibly valuable tool in learning about the species that live in the woods and mountains I hike in. Definitely not something I can take backpacking with me due to its size, but I find myself referring to it again and again, and would recommend for anyone wanting to learn about flowers in this region!

[Heather Housman]

The very best wildflower book for Tennessee and Kentucky. It is easy to use whether you are a novice or an expert who can't remember common names.

[John E]

Great reference to the higher elevation plants of the south

[Kathleen]

Best found. Easy enough for a novice, with color keys, family groupings, in-depth & concise descriptions.
Also contains shrubs.

[Tim Martin]

If I had to pick one field guide – for any group of organism, whether plant, animal, or fungus – to keep, giving the rest away, this would be THE book I want. It is without a doubt the finest field guide I have ever come across for anything. Of course, I have gotten into botany in a major way the last few years so I am a little biased, but still, compared to the gazillion birding books I own, this is the best.

Why this one book? To that one question there are many answers. It is thorough, listing not only native plants but also introduced ones. Some field guides just list non-natives in the back or in passing but not this one, it treats them as any amateur botanist would; “I see something and I want to know what it is!” While it includes common invasives and much beloved abundant natives, it doesn’t shy away from rarer plants either (it is a fantastic resource for orchids and it has photographs and entries for all the trilliums in and around Tennessee).

What? You don’t live in Tennessee? I don’t either (well, a short drive away, but still, I live in Alabama). This book is comprehensive for all but the most expert of botanists for most of the southeast, a region much neglected by botany field guides, which endlessly focus on the northeast. Sure, sure, lots of people live there and they have some great plants too, but I want one for the southeast! And this is it! Anyone living in not only Tennessee but the northern half of Alabama or Georgia, western North Carolina or South Carolina, all of Kentucky or West Virginia, all but coastal Virginia, practically all of Indiana, most of Ohio, and significant areas of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maryland would benefit from this book. For my part, I am glad they excluded the coastal and coastal plain species; while fascinating, they are so often quite different from those in more inland and especially mountain areas (plus there are some great field guides for them, especially for Florida and Gulf Coast species).

What else do I like? Great photographs. Nice clear, easy to understand descriptions with key physical characteristics in bold. Notes on similar species within each entry. Keys for some of the more important families. Easy to understand descriptions to know whether or not a species is native or not and in what type of habitat it might be found. An index that can be used for looking up plants either by common name or by scientific name.

Also I sat and read parts of it (not sure it counts as “read” for Goodreads typical use of the word though), as many entries include fun notes on folk and Native American uses of the plant (or ancient uses in the Old World if it an introduced species), as well as the origins of the common and scientific names. Also some entries have information on wildlife uses and commercial uses of some of the plants. Also the discussion before the plant entries about the different regions covered was interesting, accompanied by gorgeous landscape photography.

The book does focus on wildflowers, not flowering trees or shrubs, though a few of the more showy ones are included. Also not a book for grasses and sedges though again some of the more showy ones (the ones I noticed and had a hope of identifying) are also included.

I think even if you don’t live in the region covered this book would be a great resource (I often use the Florida field guide books for instance even though I don’t live there, as information is still information and you can never have enough of that).

[Ray Zimmerman]

Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians

Having first learned to identify plants with a dichotomous key, I am sometimes considered “old school,” so I have a particular appreciation for the key to the mint family and the key to the bean family. For those who prefer to thumb through the book and judge by illustration, the color photography David Duhl provides another opportunity for identification.

Duhl’s Photography, and the folklore and ethnobotany contributions by Tavia Cathcart provide a perfect counterpoint to the scientific approach of Dennis Horn, an officer of the Tennessee Native Plant Society, and Thomas E. Hemmerly, Vanderbilt Graduate, and professor (at the time of publication) at Middle Tennessee State University. Hemmerly authored Wildflowers of the Mid South, Appalachian Wildflowers, and Ozark Wildflowers, the last two published by the University of Georgia Press. Sadly, Dr. Hemmerly is deceased as of February of this year.

The book is an excellent field reference, listing over 1250 species in 90 plant families. It’s geographic range covers a large oval which includes all of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, and extends to include the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia through Pennsylvania, as well as Ozark Missouri and Arkansas. The range stops short of the Gulf Coast and Southern Atlantic Coast, but extends northward to nearly touch the Great lakes. Most of Ohio and Indiana are included.

The book’s size is appropriate for a field pack or vehicle. The water resistant material of the soft cover is a bonus. This reviewer is highly pleased with his copy and its usefulness.

[David Ward]

Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians: The Official Field Guide of the Tennessee Native Plant Society by Dennis Horn and Tavia Cathcart (Lone Pine Publishing 2005) (582.13). This is another perfectly adequate field guide with an emphasis on native plants. My rating: 7/10, finished 2006.

[Kristina Plaas]

An excellent resource for any serious wildflower enthusiast. I especially like the color-coded photo index at the beginning of the book -- helpful for those not accustomed to the botanical organization used in the body of the book.

[Cathie]

This is the first book I reach for when I need to identify a flowering plant I haven't seen before or to verify identification of plants I'm more familiar with. About 9o% of the time, it's the only guide I need.