Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute) [Paperback]

Lauren Brown (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 1992

How to identify 135 of the most common species of North American grasses, sedges, and rushes, with their economic and ecological importance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lauren Brown is a contributor for Houghton Mifflin Company titles including: 'Grasses'

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395628814
• ISBN-13: 978-0395628812
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #370,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Useable, but flawed, July 20, 2002

By 

"ellibertador" (San Juan, PR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute) (Paperback)

As another review noted the range of this book is limited, from Minnesota to Kentucky and Maryland south, and north to Maine, although some of the grasses are more widespread. The copyright date is 1979 and while that does not disqualify it, it has not been updated. It suffers from 1) poor reproduction of the line drawings which are supposedly "as beautiful as they are exact" - they aren't either in this edition, being too small and with line details running together to show nothing but a black blob in many cases, and 2) no photographs, which I have come to expect of any decent field guide nowadays (especially in the absence of GOOD line drawings!). Also, the grasses are organized "by visual similarity, not always by taxonomic grouping." I'd prefer the latter.

On the plus side it has a useable key and often interesting information is presented for a species. I'll keep this book, but I would have bought something else had I known!

61 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good only for the Northeast, October 6, 1999

By 

Scott (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute) (Paperback)

I am also a biologist, and was not particularly thrilled with the book. The drawings are decent, but the amateur key used to limit your choices is too amateur. The distribution of covered species is strictly for the Northeastern U.S., except for the occasional wide-spread grasses. If your not in the Northeast, another guide would be more benefical.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Best field gudie to grasses in East, Midwest., August 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute) (Paperback)

I am a prairie biologist. I find this book to be the best in helping botanical amateurs (and some experts) identify common grasses. Use it only to find the species of a grass, not its ecology. Grasses are hard to identify. This book helps alot.