A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona [Paperback]

Anne Epple (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

More than 900 color photographs and descriptive text identify Arizona's unique flora, including wildflowers, cacti, trees, and other plant life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

More than 900 color photographs and descriptive text identify Arizona's unique flora, including wildflowers, cacti, trees, and other plant life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Falcon; Reprint edition (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560445637
• ISBN-13: 978-1560445630
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Plants > Flowers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for identifying the desert wildflowers of Arizona, May 17, 2005

By 

Irvin Kanode (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona (Paperback)

Over the years, I've purchased a dozen or more books to identify desert wildflowers photographed during Superstition Wilderness hikes. This is by far the best book that I've found.
- Clear closeup photos that capture the distinctiveness of each flower
- The flower photo are grouped by color and size so if you see a "small blue flower", you can quickly see if it is in this book
- Informative details: Height, Flowers, Stems, Spines, Bloom months, Elevation, Habitat, and Comments


Check out the index to see the depth of the coverage.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Organized, Attractive, Useful Arizona Plant ID Book, May 25, 2007

By 

Only Sometimes Clever "Karen Joy" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona (Paperback)

This book has been an amazing help to me in identifying trees, cacti and flowers around the state of Arizona. It is well-organized, with glossy color pictures in the front half of the book, grouped by color in a relatively easy-to-find way, under descriptions such as "Daisylike and Dandionlike White or Whitish Flowers" or "Tiny Pink to Reddish Pink Flowers." Under each photograph is the flower's common name and the page number for the back portion of the book, in which detailed information is found.

In the back section, each plant's description includes: All the known common names; the scientific name and family to which it belongs; the plant's height; detailed, non-scientific description of the flowers and leaves; the bloom season; the elevation at which the plant grows; the habitat in which it is found; and additional, relevant comments, including where the photograph was taken and if the plant is poisonous, or has any traditional medical uses, etc.

My only disappointment is that, surely for brevity's sake, some plants are left out, which, while understandable, can make some identifications questionable. For instance, in trying to ID a high-elevation paintbrush, the book mentions "Over a dozen species of Castilleja in Arizona; the species of this genus are difficult to identify." And only four of those dozen species are in the book. Still, with 853 species pictured and described, Plants of Arizona is much more thorough for the state of Arizona than any other field guide out there.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent Resource book especially for collectors of plants., November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona (Paperback)

There is no current book available that discusses the plants of this state. I believe the last comprehensive book was printed in the 70's. This is a good comprehensive guide with many colorful photographs, and lots of good information.