Customer Reviews

Michigan Trees, Revised and Updated: A Guide to the Trees of the Great Lakes Region

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The new edition of Michigan Trees has lots of goodies--including colorized maps of serficial geology and vegetation communities, new species, and information about chromosome numbers for each species. However, the information about shrubs is gone (presumably to be put into a separate volume?), which detracts (slightly) from the book. However, it is still the best guide to trees in the Great Lakes region because of its beautiful line drawings, copious information about habitats, and plethora of identification characters.

This is a great book both for identification and for planning which trees to plant in your yard. For each tree, not only its size, but also shade tolerance, growth rate, moisture requirements, preferred habitat & other trees that share its habitat are listed. A second book is planned to cover the shrubs & vines, which I am looking forward to.

The final chapters cover aspects of the Michigan climate including the different types of plant communities, vegetation history of Michigan from the glaciers to the present day, length of growing season for different areas, and average temperature & precipitation.

I have been identifying trees since childhood, and have found this book quite useful. It is applicable not only to Michigan, but also to surrounding states (I live in Illinois).

The front of the book includes a summary of basic leaf anatomy. It includes sketches of leaf shapes and leaf margins. There is also a diagram of oak leaves as related to their immediate environment of growth (swampy, etc.). A sketch of inflorescent types is also provided.

The remainder of the book is primarily a key to tree identification. Two pages are devoted to each tree. The left open page is a description of a particular kind of tree. A moderate level of knowledge of botanical terminology is needed to fully comprehend it. The right (facing) open page contains diagrams (not photos) of leaf shapes, flowers, seeds, etc. for the tree being identified.

Pretty decent book, quality paper and covers, informative, a fairly good guide, I would prefer full pictures of trees, which would show the bark, even if only in black and white.If your new to trees this book could be quite helpful and useful.

This book is an excellent addition to a tree-o-phile's library. I would not recommend it as the only book, however, as it does not contain photographs. In many cases I had decided a tree was not the same as the one in the book, only to look up a photo in another book and realize it was the same after all.

I recommend this book in conjunction with a book called "Michigan Trees Worth Knowing." The latter has fairly good photographs, but doesn't include all trees, and doesn't even give you a hint that other trees exist. An example is Green Ash, which is prevalent in Michigan, but is not even mentioned in MTWK. This book (Michigan Trees, Revised and updated) gives a good description of Green Ash.

"Michigan Trees, Revised and Updated" is worth every penny; it's a high-quality book. If you buy it you will not be disappointed.

Michigan Trees was chosen by our Prof down here in New Jersey as the field manual for our work with trees in the lab - class of Theoretical and Field Biology. Of the wide range of species discussed and skillfully illustrated in the text, very few are native to Michigan and not to New Jersey. Although the volume is soft - cover, the outer is a durable and pliable synthesis of plastic and paper that makes this rich resource particularly suitable for field work.

The shipping was really fast for this and it came brand new. The pictures aren't in color which is too bad - but there is still a picture for each species with things like its leaf, fruit, stem, flower shoot, female and male flower and winter twig. Bought this as a required book for a a college course in Wisconsin because our trees overlap so much. So good book for Wisconsinites too!

I use this book for a college-level course on trees and forests that I teach in the Chicago area. Even though the title is "Michigan Trees," this book is the best book for use in the field for any place in the northeast or midwest. Great line drawings, consistent information for distinguishing closely related species, and excellent commentary on natural history in a book that you can carry with you at all times.

The title of this book says it all. If you want to find any tree in this state here is the book for you. The key to finding which tree species you are looking at is quite detailed and precise, so be sure to read the "how to use this book" section for all the terms. The book arrived in pristine condition, and in a timely manner. I would positively order from this book dealer again.

A must have for anyone who desires to learn tree identification. Quite technical but has been in use since 1913.