A Field Guide to Eastern Trees (Peterson Field Guides) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Roger Tory Peterson (Editor), Janet Wehr (Illustrator) "Larches (Larix): Needles numerous at ends of warty spur branches; dropping in autumn, leaving tree bare..." (more)
Key Phrases: twigs hairless, leafstalk glands, clustered end buds, May June, Flowers April-May, Ashleaf Maple (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This field guide features detailed descriptions of 455 species of trees native to eastern North America, including the Midwest and the South. The 48 color plates, 11 black-and-white plates, and 26 text drawings show distinctive details needed for identification. Color photographs and 266 color range maps accompany the species descriptions.

From the Author

Drawings on page 3 show both leaf scars and bundle scars. Immediately beside the map for Osage Orange, too, the text says "Once native to n. Texas, e. Oklahoma, etc., home of the Osage Indians, this species was widely planted before the invention of barbed wire. It is now widely distributed in our area".

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2nd edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395904552
• ISBN-13: 978-0395904558
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,105 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good guide to a difficult subject, April 15, 2000

By	Shawn Moses (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Peterson's has about the best pocket-sized tree guide out there (I much prefer it to the Audubon guide, which I also own), but I won't kid with you - identifying trees is hard. It takes time, patience, and a keen eye. Just looking at leaves is usually not enough to make a positive identification. Depending on the species and the time of year, you may also have to examine bark, the twigs, flowers, buds, or fruits. The best part of the Peterson guide is that it has summer and winter keys in the back - don't ignore them just because the keys have no pictures! They are invaluable. Without them, you might find yourself lost among the many pages of illustrations. Perhaps the best resource to supplement this guide would be contact with an expert on the flora of your area - perhaps a naturalist at a local park or a forestry professor at a nearby university.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not the flashiest, but the clearest, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

I use other field guides for browsing, but this is the guide I use when I go out into the field and I really want to identify things. It uses a very clear key to subdivide trees into specific groups (like needleleaf/broadleaf or opposit-leaved/alternate-leaved), narrowing down the choices and making identification much easier. The drawings are very clear, and as a bonus, you get a tiny map for each species identifying its exact geographical range. Highly recommended.

83 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So-so book. Spend your money elsewhere, March 22, 2000

By	ross williams (S. IL) - See all my reviews

I know quite a bit about trees [boy scout, landscaping, etc], and I found this book to be very confusing in its layout. Not all of the trees described have all identification visually depicted -- leaf, bark, twig, seed -- and what pictures it has are separated from the text description by hundreds of pages. "Okay, this is an oak leaf, and they're described here... hmm, the pictures are back there ... hold on, let me use the leaf as a bookmark ..." Not handy at all.

The text itself is very detailed, but the "how to use this book" chapter doesn't show pictures to describe what is meant by the specific terms it uses. So even though I know quite a bit about trees, I found myself having to go back to botany books to look up 'bundled leaf scar' [and other terms] so I could try to determine from text only the difference between one specific tree from a similar one, only one of which is poisonous to my horses.

As a result, I am confused, and we have to wait until the tree completely leafs out in a month or two before we can make the determination whether to cut it down or not.

Additionally, only a fraction of the trees it contains has habitat or range maps, so I can't even tell whether I need to be concerned about a specific tree being native in my area. And in one case, the Osage Orange which grows like weeds here and has for at least a hundred years, shows a range limited to TX and S.W. AR ... 300 miles away. I've seen better tree-ident books in the book stores when I needed to look up one specific item. I wish I could remember the names of them.

On the plus side, the text descriptions are very detailed, and contain lots of interesting tidbits that you wouldn't find elsewhere. I'd suggest that you use other books unless you're actually a forest ranger or a PhD in trees.