Prairie in Your Pocket: A Guide to Plants of the Tallgrass Prairie (Bur Oak Guide) [Folded Map] [Vinyl Bound]

Mark Muller (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000 | Series: Bur Oak Guide

In recent years, plant lovers and environmentalists have cultivated a popular interest in prairie restoration. Many of the most common prairie plants are now easily visible along roadsides and park trails (not to mention in gardens) throughout the Midwest.

Prairie in Your Pocket offers an easy-to-use and inexpensive guide for identifying more than one hundred of the most common plants of the tallgrass prairie. Ideal for travelers, the guide is laminated for durability and folds down to the size of a business envelope. Slip one into your glove compartment for road trips or into your backpack or pocket for cycling and hiking.

By focusing on one ecosystem, Prairie in Your Pocket is perfect for amateurs as an introduction to prairie plant identification. It is the only guide of its kind for identifying tallgrass species. The guide provides color illustrations along with common and scientific names, plant heights, and blooming periods for 114 species.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Illustrator Mark Mller has sketched and photographed the world from Alaska to Antarctica. He is currently a freelance illustrator living on a farmstead near Iowa City. His work includes An Illustrated Guide to Iowa Prairie Plants (Iowa, 1999) and numerous posters and pamphlets for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Product Details

• Vinyl Bound
• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877456836
• ISBN-13: 978-0877456834
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 4.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,206,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Botany
  • #19 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Ecology
  • #48 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Plants > General

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great guide, February 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Prairie in Your Pocket: A Guide to Plants of the Tallgrass Prairie (Bur Oak Guide) (Vinyl Bound)

I bought this guide at the Living History Farms gift shop in Des Moines and was pleasantly surprised to learn it was published in my hometown. This is a portable, durable, beautifully illustrated guide to identifying some of the most common plants of the tallgrass prairie. My family has taken this guide along on outings, and we have found it a very helpful way to connect with our natural surroundings. My pre-teen daughter especially has enjoyed closely examining the plants we encounter to see if they match up with the examples in the guide. Also recommend *Woodland in Your Pocket* by the same illustrator.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disappointingly incomplete, June 28, 2008

By 

V. Sharol Cutrell "Sharol" (Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prairie in Your Pocket: A Guide to Plants of the Tallgrass Prairie (Bur Oak Guide) (Vinyl Bound)

I found this guide to be pretty incomplete. I live in the heart of the Flint Hills, and while this may be fine further north, it doesn't apply to well to the plants growing in my part of the Tallgrass Prairie. I wouldn't buy it again. I would recommend a larger book, Tallgrass Prairie Wildflowers 2 by Doug Ladd instead. I ordered it at the same time, and it is worth the extra weight due to its completeness.

4.0 out of 5 stars A good begining, August 19, 2009

By 

J. Ibberson "jerold222" (Owatonna, MN, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prairie in Your Pocket: A Guide to Plants of the Tallgrass Prairie (Bur Oak Guide) (Vinyl Bound)

I am from Southern Minnesota and have had this guide for about 4 or 5 years now. It is my first choice when hiking into the prairie. It is my constant pocket companion. The matching woodland flower guide is great too. They are not perfect but they cover 75 % of the common flowering plants and Grasses of the Midwestern Prairie.
I like it because it is durable, handy in the pocket, and quick to identify. I do have other books and I identifiers in my pack, but this one always comes out first. It only cover the most common plants is basically organized by flower color and Bloom period. Then if I am still stumped I have my "Audubon book of wildflowers" a great but massive pocket guide and "Minnesota wildflowers."

I have found none that are totally complete, But this pocket guide is the perfect place to start. Great for student tours.