Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification (Paperback)

by Thomas J. Elpel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Botany in a Day presents a simplified way of identifying plants through learning the patterns in over 100 plant families." -- Ecology Action Newsletter. Willits, California. February 2003.
(Review of the fourth edition.)

Product Description
Looking for a faster, easier, and fun way to identify plants? Botany in a Day teaches you the patterns method of plant identification, so that you can discover the wonderful world of plants around you, wherever you go.

Instead of trying to identify plants one-at-a-time, Botany in a Day give you a way to learn them by the hundreds, based on the principle that related plants have similar patterns for indentification, and they often have similar uses.

The one-day tutorial included in the text teaches you seven key patterns to recognize more than 45,000 species of plants worldwide. Master these seven patterns and you will be ready to use the included reference guide--Thomas J. Elpel's Herbal Field Guide to Plant Families of North America. Here you will find the patterns for indentification and the patterns of uses for the majority of plants across the continent.

Botany in a Day is used as a guide by thousands of individuals, plus herbal schools and universities across North America.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: HOPS Press, LLC; 5 edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892784157
• ISBN-13: 978-1892784155
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,858 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #5 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Plants > Flowers
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for intuitive understanding of the subject, April 8, 2006

By	Mary Engle "botany enthusiast" (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the opening chapter, this book presents a wonderful simplified story of the evolution of plants, from a single cell to modern complex flowers. Both children and adults can gain a unique, intuitive understanding of this process from this explanation. My compliments to the author. He describes each plant family with interesting anecdotes and high quality line drawings. It's the first plant book whose lack of photographs didn't matter. Great tips for identifying families and individual plants have helped me enormously. Bravo!

58 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teaches the patterns method of plant identification, December 8, 2004

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Any interested in plant identification should consider Botany In A Day: The Patterns Method Of Plant Identification as an important guide. Thomas Elpel (Director of Hollowtop Outdoor Primitive School, Pony, Montana) deftly teaches the patterns method of plant identification, providing a method for learning about groupings of plants based on the idea that related plants have similar patterns for identification, and similar uses. Black and white line drawings accompany descriptions of different plant families and their identification processes.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource!, September 30, 2007

By	T. Ibsen (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Botany in a Day provides an excellent overview to field botany. By learning plant characteristics by family, the reader can more quickly identify their plant by identifying the patterns each plant family presents. The book provides a page or two (or more!) on dozens of the most common families in the northern half of the US. Each plant family section contains additional information about the plant genera represented in this family. The keys to plant families allow the reader to quickly determine what section to turn to. This book is best coupled with a plant field guide to individual species that is grouped by family. You can use the Botany in a Day information to narrow your selection to the family and the field guide to identify the specific species.

I highly recommend this book to both lay and professional people who work with plants.