Customer Reviews

Agnes Chase's First Book of Grasses: The Structure of Grasses Explained for Beginners

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Although my botanical interests lie mainly in mycology and dendrology, I was truly delighted to find this little book. It is simply the best way to get a conceptual understanding of the structure of grasses and the main genera in a way that will definitely aid your ability to identify them in the field using more traditional taxonomic keys. Normally, such keys lead you from the specific characters to the taxon/concept itself, but with this book, you learn the more powerful concepts that unify and differentiate the various genera. This was a tremendous aid to me in my field identification of this important group, because after reading this book several times, I basically knew what was going on, instead of just "cookbooking" it using the typical botanical key.

I have sort of an amusing story associated with this book. By the time I had memorized this book I could basically identify any grass at least to the genus level by sight, and then I could consult a more detailed taxonomic key from there for the species. I was once sitting around a fire with my fellow mycologists, who were somewhat amused I had somehow learned how to identify the grasses, which, even for a botanist, are an esoteric group. So when they asked what I was doing, I said that once you understood the grasses, even an apparently desolate, boring, sand lot down the block can provide hours of fun. Mycologists are used to spending hours tramping through the woods in search of interesting mushrooms, so they found this quite funny and everybody laughed at the thought.

Anway, Agnes Chase loved the grasses and this book is filled with that enthusiasm in this clear and concise book, helping to make one of the most difficult areas of plant identification easier to deal with.

Highly recommended for "wannabe" botanists and plant lovers, this book divides the complexity of grasses into twelve relatively simple lessons. It is perfect for quickly gaining a basic understanding of the taxonomy of grasses, and, of course, impressing your friends at parties with lines like "hey check out the florets on this pedicellate spikelet." (Lesson 3)

This book is a primer not a field guide, check out Knobel/Faust for a good companion volume.

As a first-year botany student, I was overwhelmed by the confusing tables and cryptic systems when trying to identify certain plants. I am so relieved to find a guide like Agnes Chase's First Book of Grasses, where identification methods are made simple, yet remain as factual and dependable as the volumes on horticulture and botany for advanced students. The book is a classic in the world of botany, however the updated fourth edition makes it all the more useful in relation to the ever-changing world of scientific knowledge. This guide is a must-have for any beginner in botany as it opens the doors to the world of agrostology in such a clear and dependable manner.

Agnes Chase loved botany as a hobby and she wrote this book in that vein. There are lots of excellent illustrations of plant parts that are clear and easy to understand - a must for grass identification. This edition has an excellent preface, going into the history of Chase's life. It's a must buy for the hobbiest and the professional alike.

If you want to know what the grasses are all about - this is a must read. It contains high quality drawings of grass structures and an easy to understand text for the layperson as well as the expert. Grasses are the most misunderstood organisms of the plant kingdom - this book gives the world of grasses a new sense of meaning. A must buy for the serious plant scientist.

I can agree and relate to all reviews up until the date of this one. I will admit that if you are not trained in any area of biology or botany this book may not be too easy for you to use but I'm not so sure the topic of grasses could be made any simpler than this. Grasses seem simple yet they are so complex, so finding anything simpler than this book may be difficult. What is great about this book is it explains enough of the morphology of grasses for you to even identify the more common grasses to the generic level. The abundant line drawings are accurate and fairly detailed. A useful glossary is at the back of the book. It will be up to you to study and learn/memorize the terminology of their identifying structures if you are serious about identifying grasses. The one thing that would have been nice is if there was a key to the grasses in this book but there isn't. You may find it useful to purchase some other books on grasses too (Harrington, H.D. 1977. How to Identify Grasses & Grasslike Plants; Brown, L. 1979. Grasses, An Identification Guide; Knobel, E. 1980. Field Guide to the Grasses, Sedges & Rushes of the U.S.) to help cross reference with more information.

This one is definitely not for beginners. It is far too detailed in terms of minute structure of the grasses and is not organized in such a way as to help the amateur in the identification of a particular grass type.