Book of Field & Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America [Paperback]

John Eastman (Author), Amelia Hansen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003

A guide to plant life in open dryland habitats

Fascinating fact and folklore

Detailed, beautiful drawings

Picking up where typical field guides leave off, this handy reference takes an ecological approach, providing complete descriptions of 85 plants found in fields, open meadows, and along roadsides--from Ailanthus to Yucca--as well as wildlife communities associated with them. Written in an engaging manner, this book helps readers identify dryland plants, discusses what other organisms, plant and animal, might be found in the same area, and explains why.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amelia Hansen has been a freelance illustrator since 1989, specializing in nature and natural history subjects. She lives near Kalamazoo, Michigan.

John Eastman is the author of several Stackpole Books. He lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; 1 edition (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811726258
• ISBN-13: 978-0811726252
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be warned, this is NOT an identification guide!, December 7, 2009

By 

jannert "jannert" (Hamilton Scotland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Book of Field & Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America (Paperback)

This series by John Eastman contains some of my favourite books about nature (and I own them all!)

However, it is important to realise these are NOT books for people who want to identify wildflowers, weeds, trees etc. The illustrations are drawings in black and white, and many do not depict the plant being discussed, but rather depict something associated with the plant instead, such as a fungus, insect or disease.

Instead, these books discuss each chosen plant, where it lives, details of its life cycle, and what other plants and creatures interact with it. The author also discusses how each plant affects humans ...how we use it, or why we should avoid it, etc.

These discussions are lively, accessible, and chock-full of information which even the most avid plant lover won't already know. However, this chatty quality does not obscure the fact that John Eastman certainly knows his stuff. Eastman's books are the next best thing to taking an outdoor walk with an expert in tow, to answer all your questions and point out sights and signs you might have missed. There are no other books I know of, which cover the same subjects in such readable form.

The ONLY reason I've given this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because there is no index.

Plants are listed alphabetically by their common names only. A common name is actually a plant's "nickname" and may vary from region to region. This is fine, if you and John Eastman happen to share the same common name for a particular plant. However, if you don't, you can't look the plant up because its Latin name is only given as part of the text.

Latin names are plants' proper botanical names, and give important clues to how plants are related. Having no index of Latin names makes it dreadfully hard to cross-reference plants from the same species or family, and is a strange omission from such a book. The book does contain a useful glossary of botanical terminology, however.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars deep understanding of pants described, November 3, 2008

By 

rural girl (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Book of Field & Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America (Paperback)

I have been enjoying this book tremendously. I enjoy studying wild flowers, for fun, and I also am trying to destroy invasive plants like mustard garlic, and this book is extremely helpful because it talks about how plants propagate. I also enjoy hearing the folk-lore of different plants; terrific book, fun to read, I highly recommend it.

I am still benefiting from this book; other books that I feel work well with this book is Weeds of the Northeast (Comstock books)and Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Weed entertainment, August 24, 2008

By 

zen cello (Mount Rainier, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Book of Field & Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America (Paperback)

This delightful, chatty guide combines descriptive information with discussions of habitat, history, uses, insects, etc. Eastman makes it a point to indicate alien vs. native status of plants, but is interested in all the plants he discusses and fairly nonpartisan. The book also has an attractive design and typographic style. Like Weeds of the Northeast (Comstock Books), the emphasis is neither on flowers nor on being comprehensive, but on plants of all types that are most commonly encountered, in the "disturbed" areas of human settlement.
A great adjunct to standard field guides and a great walking companion.