Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification

I really like the concept of this book and had a good time studying it, though some parts were a bit technical. Some reviewers commented on how "in a day" is misleading. I spent about a week studying it and still haven't come close to mastering it, but the core concept is simple. My biggest aha was in learning to identify members of the aster family. The thing I was mostly disappointed about was that the main means for identification came down to a plant's flowers. That may be the best way to identify members of a given family, but what do you do when they aren't in bloom? There were some comments about leaves, fruit, etc, but it mostly talked about flowers. I think the author did a good job. It wasn't everything I ever dreamed it could be, but it was very helpful.

Nobody learns botanical ID in one day! The concept is great, however as a (degreed) novice, I found that it is not written for beginners at all. I quickly ordered a glossary of botanical terms because the book is written as though all readers are comfortable with them. I would not recommend to another beginner.

I bought this for my 7 year old daughter, out little "budding botanist," *har har.* Rather than read it all at once, she would savor and study each section until she had it committed to memory. Upon realizing how much my little one was learning, I picked it up, and devoure it. Concise, yet descriptive. It is not a studyguideforyou to memorize, rather, it teaches you the way botanists and scientists discern one plant from another...i.e. how to think like a botanist.

I love this book. No questions asked it is a must have for plant lovers. As with any books you’ll find things might be out dated, it feels like classification and taxonomy for many plants changes every few months sometimes. So if you’re buying books to help you ID plants you must understand that classifications change often unless you are buying the newest and updated versions of those books IMMEDIATELY you’ll encounter some inaccuracies. That’s just a fact. Now the one negative about buying this from amazon is that they distribution has been super crappy recently. Every book I buy from them comes packaged like garbage and UPS seems not my give a single crap about how packages are treated. Most of my books are used in the field so it’s not a huge deal but I have some books that are VERY expensive that I would like to keep in decent quality. Feeling really disappointed with Amazon. Treat your employees well during this hard time and maybe they will care about how they are doing their job. I can’t blame one individual but I really wish amazing would get it the f*** together. I’ll probably start having my loc book shop ship in all my books from here on out. Amazon isn’t any faster now anyway. 2 day shipping has turned into 1 week shipping.

I was looking forward to reading this book and using it with my herbal studies. I am living in South Florida and it clearly states in the beginning of the book that it is meant to be used for readers up North. I'm sure there is a book out there somewhere like this just for Florida..........I just haven't found it yet. I hope the author can create a similar series for those of us down South. I did return it. :-(

AWESOME book! I’m a studying botanist, and really appreciate how concise and well-organized this book is. I’m learning so many new plant families and expanding on the ones I already knew! I think this book is a great bridge into using dichotomous keys if you’re trying to get good at ID in the field, as well as a great supplement for learning plant morphology and terminology. Additionally, the illustrations are BEAUTIFUL, so if you’re not about all that other stuff, buy it just for the eye candy.

A couple of things first: I am a degreed botanist who once had a three ring binder in which I had described the characteristics of every plant family found in California and almost all plant families found in the US. I lost it during a move sometime ago. I bought this book in 2006 to help avoid duplicating all that info again. I never looked at the book until this year when I decided to key out some weeds in the backyard. Though I found a few errors in the text (which only a taxonomist or morphologist would see), but overall this book duplicated my three ring binder plus it added other information on use and toxicity. I have read it through a few times and pick up little facts each time. Sure an untrained person will have some difficulty using it without first taking the time to understand the basics of a plant. Nothing is free. With just a little effort this book will be very useful. And please note that the author basically described the demographics of where this book would be most helpful: 85% in Montana (where he lives) and 5% in Florida (where I guess he never lived). The West, Midwest, and Northeast are well covered. Update 11/5/2012: Just found a beautiful weed in the backyard. Used this book to determine it was in the Solanum family. Unfortunately it is a genus that was not covered in the book...but the book was helpful in eliminating all the other genera. Using a Jepson manual and only the section on Solanums, I was able to key it out to Nicandra physalodes (Apple of Peru). Double checked my results by using the Calphotos web site and sure enough there it was. Botany in a Day is extremely useful even when the genus is not present in the book!

Well organized and clearly written, this book is a great way to learn to recognize the major groups of flowering plants. Included is an explanation of terms used in the book as well as useful illustrations. A good portion of the text is devoted to the harvesting of wild plants and their medicinal uses, which was somewhat disappointing since I would have rather focused on how genera differ from each other. However, since studying from Mr. Elpel's book, I feel confident of being able to place unknown plants into specific families and enjoy it immensely.

This 6.1 edition is actually a little more clearer than some of the earlier editions. I am having a better time of understanding some of the family differences, and the memorization tips and basics are helpful. I agree with others that there is more information here on the plant families than can really be memorized in a day unless you have a photographic memory, but I feel much more prepared to identify and key out plants with these basics.

For me, this book is an exceedingly valuable addition to my library of botany and plant identification. Though it is mainly to be used as a guide to plants in bloom, it excels all others I've used for that purpose. By the method used of identifying plants first by families is a extraordinary manner of learning to identify plants. Though the book gets bogged down in places by potential varying ideas of evolution, the pictures, definitions, and descriptions of plant families is superb. This book is not a beginner's guide to plant identification, as a basic education of botany is necessary for understanding the text; however, it is a splendid companion for those beginning plant identification, add detailed enough for the well-educated botanist.

I really like the concept of this book and had a good time studying it, though some parts were a bit technical. Some reviewers commented on how "in a day" is misleading. I spent about a week studying it and still haven't come close to mastering it, but the core concept is simple. My biggest aha was in learning to identify members of the aster family. The thing I was mostly disappointed about was that the main means for identification came down to a plant's flowers. That may be the best way to identify members of a given family, but what do you do when they aren't in bloom? There were some comments about leaves, fruit, etc, but it mostly talked about flowers. I think the author did a good job. It wasn't everything I ever dreamed it could be, but it was very helpful.

Nobody learns botanical ID in one day! The concept is great, however as a (degreed) novice, I found that it is not written for beginners at all. I quickly ordered a glossary of botanical terms because the book is written as though all readers are comfortable with them. I would not recommend to another beginner.

I bought this for my 7 year old daughter, out little "budding botanist," *har har.* Rather than read it all at once, she would savor and study each section until she had it committed to memory. Upon realizing how much my little one was learning, I picked it up, and devoure it. Concise, yet descriptive. It is not a studyguideforyou to memorize, rather, it teaches you the way botanists and scientists discern one plant from another...i.e. how to think like a botanist.

I love this book. No questions asked it is a must have for plant lovers. As with any books you’ll find things might be out dated, it feels like classification and taxonomy for many plants changes every few months sometimes. So if you’re buying books to help you ID plants you must understand that classifications change often unless you are buying the newest and updated versions of those books IMMEDIATELY you’ll encounter some inaccuracies. That’s just a fact. Now the one negative about buying this from amazon is that they distribution has been super crappy recently. Every book I buy from them comes packaged like garbage and UPS seems not my give a single crap about how packages are treated. Most of my books are used in the field so it’s not a huge deal but I have some books that are VERY expensive that I would like to keep in decent quality. Feeling really disappointed with Amazon. Treat your employees well during this hard time and maybe they will care about how they are doing their job. I can’t blame one individual but I really wish amazing would get it the f*** together. I’ll probably start having my loc book shop ship in all my books from here on out. Amazon isn’t any faster now anyway. 2 day shipping has turned into 1 week shipping.

I was looking forward to reading this book and using it with my herbal studies. I am living in South Florida and it clearly states in the beginning of the book that it is meant to be used for readers up North. I'm sure there is a book out there somewhere like this just for Florida..........I just haven't found it yet. I hope the author can create a similar series for those of us down South. I did return it. :-(

AWESOME book! I’m a studying botanist, and really appreciate how concise and well-organized this book is. I’m learning so many new plant families and expanding on the ones I already knew! I think this book is a great bridge into using dichotomous keys if you’re trying to get good at ID in the field, as well as a great supplement for learning plant morphology and terminology. Additionally, the illustrations are BEAUTIFUL, so if you’re not about all that other stuff, buy it just for the eye candy.

A couple of things first: I am a degreed botanist who once had a three ring binder in which I had described the characteristics of every plant family found in California and almost all plant families found in the US. I lost it during a move sometime ago. I bought this book in 2006 to help avoid duplicating all that info again. I never looked at the book until this year when I decided to key out some weeds in the backyard. Though I found a few errors in the text (which only a taxonomist or morphologist would see), but overall this book duplicated my three ring binder plus it added other information on use and toxicity. I have read it through a few times and pick up little facts each time. Sure an untrained person will have some difficulty using it without first taking the time to understand the basics of a plant. Nothing is free. With just a little effort this book will be very useful. And please note that the author basically described the demographics of where this book would be most helpful: 85% in Montana (where he lives) and 5% in Florida (where I guess he never lived). The West, Midwest, and Northeast are well covered. Update 11/5/2012: Just found a beautiful weed in the backyard. Used this book to determine it was in the Solanum family. Unfortunately it is a genus that was not covered in the book...but the book was helpful in eliminating all the other genera. Using a Jepson manual and only the section on Solanums, I was able to key it out to Nicandra physalodes (Apple of Peru). Double checked my results by using the Calphotos web site and sure enough there it was. Botany in a Day is extremely useful even when the genus is not present in the book!

Well organized and clearly written, this book is a great way to learn to recognize the major groups of flowering plants. Included is an explanation of terms used in the book as well as useful illustrations. A good portion of the text is devoted to the harvesting of wild plants and their medicinal uses, which was somewhat disappointing since I would have rather focused on how genera differ from each other. However, since studying from Mr. Elpel's book, I feel confident of being able to place unknown plants into specific families and enjoy it immensely.

This 6.1 edition is actually a little more clearer than some of the earlier editions. I am having a better time of understanding some of the family differences, and the memorization tips and basics are helpful. I agree with others that there is more information here on the plant families than can really be memorized in a day unless you have a photographic memory, but I feel much more prepared to identify and key out plants with these basics.

For me, this book is an exceedingly valuable addition to my library of botany and plant identification. Though it is mainly to be used as a guide to plants in bloom, it excels all others I've used for that purpose. By the method used of identifying plants first by families is a extraordinary manner of learning to identify plants. Though the book gets bogged down in places by potential varying ideas of evolution, the pictures, definitions, and descriptions of plant families is superb. This book is not a beginner's guide to plant identification, as a basic education of botany is necessary for understanding the text; however, it is a splendid companion for those beginning plant identification, add detailed enough for the well-educated botanist.

I'm completely new to Botany. I never paid attention closely to the multitude of diversity in the plant world. While browsing YouTube I came across an unusual program called "Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't." This guy goes on walks with his dogs discussing botany, geology, evolution and other conditions that shape the environment that is being studied. Though he uses language that will offend some, I heartily recommend his stuff. This book is one that he mentioned. It's not on the level of a botany 101 textbook but I found it a less intimidating way to begin to look at the world anew. Yeah, I will probably get a proper botany text too.

Terrible! Pages just fell out when I opened the book. Ugh, very disappointed. I didn’t receive the playing cards that are supposed to come with this book either. Would not recommend, buy directly from author.

If you ever check out "Crime Pays but Botany doesn't" he recommends this book highly. It's an excellent primer. I reference this book all the time now. It's the effin bomb!

This book has a lot of good information about what the author calls the patterns in plant families. The species selected in this book tend to be from the northern United States, and I do live in Florida, but nonetheless there is a great variety here. I don't normally leave reviews to books, but the most frustrating thing about this book to me is the typography and editing. It uses what seems like 10 different fonts with a huge variety in line, word, and even character spacing. In the photo for Papaver somniferum, the caption says "Papaver omniferum". On page 44, the text between the LETTERS is so big on the second paragraph I get a headache just looking at it. "...edge of the leaf. C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f t h e ferns...". Every paragraph on every page honestly looks like it was assembled freehand in Photoshop or something, with the colloquial names of the plant families printed at least twice, once with a San Serif Font and once with a serif font. This was a really difficult decision between 3 and 4 stars, but it has good content so I will give it 4. Could use some updates as well from APG IV but over all good book.

I love the authors system to help us learn plant families, but there’s so much to know! You can’t really learn it in a day, but using his methods and game you can learn some of the plant families. Good pictures and tons of info. Definitely would buy again. (along with the cards. )

All i can say is....WOW! Where else can someone get this kind of experiential knowledge and training? This book is superior in every way to any other book or college course in regards to plant wisdom. An invaluable, lifelong resource.

this book looks beautiful and seems extremely functional. It must be mentioned, though that strictly as a *book* being reviewed, it falls apart almost immediately. I was reading it for the first time today and then had to tape the first 5 pages into the book because they fell out onto the floor. It’s not worth it to me to return it, but it’s worth noting that it’s bound poorly.

It has multiple plant keys and the basics on endless families. I'm pairing it with "Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary" by James G. Harris so I can understand the terms the author uses. I've found the pair highly useful and plan to use them to make it easier to identify local weeds by narrowing down my options to single families or subfamilies. Obviously, this isn't a full dichotomous plant key, it just focuses on the plant FAMILIES of North America. But in some ways, that makes it better.

I like the format of the book and that each family has full page of drawings and information. I like that the fruiting structure is also pictured. Really disappointed in the packaging. It was a large thinner book placed in a large padded envelope that was folded in half and shoved into my mailbox. The covers were badly bent! If you order the book ask for it to be boxed if they will.

I love this book. Updated and filled with excellent information about plant families and how to identify plants by way of their characteristics. Excellent for someone learning how to wildcraft or cultivate plants in their own gardens.

This is a very good book for someone trying to find edible plants around home. Lots of common plants you see all the time.

I really liked this book for a basic and easy to read botany lesson.

I bought this to prepare for the course "Plants of the Smokies" (Southern Appalachian Naturalist Certification Program -- Tremont Center -- GSMNP) and it is an EXCELLENT reference for the non-botanist who wants to ratchet up their understanding of the plant kingdom. Also essential for the herbalist (not me, but the medicinal and culinary sections are super interesting). Only caveat -- I expect to be studying this for a month or a year or the rest of my life, not just a day!

For the past decade or so I have been trying to give myself a proper eduction in botany and plant identification, and to that end I've purchased a lot of books on the subject, ranging from Audubon and Peterson field guides to introductory college texts. The field guides are great for matching pictures to names- If you've found a plant that's common enough to make it into the guide. The textbooks are great for understanding the biology of plants, but go into far more detail than I need as an amateur naturalist; I'm not particularly interested in getting a second BA in Botany. What I really wanted was a way to identify plants by their structure, and this book is exactly what I was looking for. Elpel's approach is to key various plant families to their physical structure, and to teach you how to recognize those elements that determine family. Doesn't matter if it's one of the more obscure plants that doesn't show up in the field guides; you know the family, and from there you can go to a reference work and narrow it down. I found an unusual volunteer in my back yard, and using Elpel's systems, I was able to immediately identify it: Square, hairy stem, opposite leaves, aromatic? Mint family. From there I went to one of my reference books (Voss, Flora of Michigan Part 2) and identified it as Motherwort. There are also keys to the clades. Parallel veins? Monocot. Branching veins? Dicot. And so on. I really can't say enough good about this book. If you're at all interested in plants, especially wild plants, buy it. If you're just getting started in studying wild plants, make this your first purchase. Even if you've got bookshelves full of field guides you'll find this to be a great addition to your library.

A TON of info, unfortunately it’s a little over crowded and because of that not as well organized as I would have liked. Too much info on a page to use with my 10 yr old, and even overwhelming for me.

The "used" book arrived in excellent condition. One of my hobbies is identifying native US plants. This book will be very useful.

Excellent reference for identifying or learning to ID plants. It won't get you down to species, but knowing the family of a plant is a good start, and in some cases, Botany in a Day can help determine genus. As mentioned in the book, it is best used in conjunction with another field guide. Parts of the introduction are redundant for anyone with a basic understanding of taxonomy and evolutionary biology, but would be very useful for anyone without a background in those areas. WARNING: Botany in a Day does frequently comment on edibility and medicinal uses of plants, but you should not rely on it exclusively for such matters. Be sure to consult a book or other expert on wild edibles before attempting to use or eat wild plants. Otherwise a great book that I highly recommend.

This is the very best book for learning plant families for identification. Excellent for beginners. Recommended by almost everyone.

First & foremost - it is not a guide for family related groupings. It's clades. The title is misleading. Perhaps, a taxonomist might find it useful. I did not.

_Botany in a Day_ isn't a field guide per se. The construction of the book doesn't lend itself easily to being schlepped around outdoors (especially here in the northwest.) That said, it is the single best introduction to plant identification I've come across. The first chapter gives a broad overview of plant evolution (from mosses and ferns to "naked seed" plants to flowering plants). The tutorial doesn't "dumb down" the genera, and gives a strong foundation for further classification of plants. Having explained the plant kingdom as a kingdom, Elpel's following chapters further break down the Linnean (or "binomial") nomenclature of plants, both showing and explaining the dicotyledon and moncotyledon classes and the families of composite flowers, with some "tricks" to identify broader patterns in plant families. General plant anatomy is illustrated and explained as well. Armed with this basic information, you now have the tools to begin "keying" to identify specific plants. To make the process easier, Elpel models how to "key" by asking specific questions: which division does the plant belong to? is it a moncot or a dicot? are the sepals united or separate? are the petals united or separate? what do the stamens look like? how many pistils are there? The purpose here, I imagine, is to give readers the ability to identify plants without a field guide - to *be* a lay-botanist, or to identify flowering plants either by photos taken, or samples taken from the field and examined at home. While the amont of information is astounding (Elpel's guide has hundreds and hundreds of plants), it is a book for the generalist: all images are illustrations, and specific species are identified only as part of larger sub-families. Finding specific plants is tricky: the key in the beginning of the book will give you the common name or subfamily of a plant, but not the specific page where you can find more information about various genera of the plant; the index is gives the common name or subfamily of a plant and the page where it can be found, but flipping back and forth from front to back and then to a specific page is a bit of a hassle. This is the only negative remark I have about this book. If you are interested in a proper field guide, I recommend

Botany and especially Taxonomy are undergoing a revolution thanks to the finding of DNA sequencing. So as described in this book, we no longer need to just go by the an experts "well it looks like such-and-such". We can objectively identify several certain characters that lead us to conclude we are looking at a particular family of plants. Then do online searches of images to confirm our conclusions. This book is one of my first 'go to' resources.

I just received the book and unfortunately the book is falling apart from the moment I opened it. Basically easily coming unglued from binding.

I adore this book! I need it for an Herbalist course I'm taking but I would want it in my collection even if it wasn't required. The pages and illustrations are both artful and useful. I can't wait to really dig into it and learn a bunch!

Well written and easily comprehended

A good study book. Good information

Good book, very useful, has the updated taxonomic name changes.

Very informative. Used many times to help identify plants

An easy botany read and refresher.

Botany in a Day is one of those books that requires time. At first glance, this textbook may appear a little daunting, but with time, you will discover how easy it is to use. There are pages that can be copied and taken into the field for hands-on activities.I will be sharing this beautiful book with my grand-daughter.

Real scientists dig plants!

Nice mix of information, engaging stories and a good field guide. Even a section towards the back that covers the major chemicals for medicinal use and what plants their in. Worth every penny.

Great addition to my gardening library

Helps you identify and review plants ( i like that it is written in English and not scientific terms

I got a first hand walk through with this book and loved it instantly that I had to purchase it. You'll be organizing and recognizing patterns within plant families after the first time you pick it up. A must for those trying to master their botanical knowledge.

Bent , dog eared. This is a New book. This 2 weeks late. This Prime. This to help me interview for work. Job is now filled. Amazon Prime. Really??

I bought this book to help me more readily identify plants. It's a very daunting task but the author does make it a bit easier by breaking things down into seven families and telling us what the characteristics of each of those families are. Sort of a "eating an elephant one bite at a time" kind of thing. I like this book a lot and recommend it.

Helpful

Very useful. Sometimes I do need to read the same part several times but that may be me. Still well written and will be a help in my plant identification. I also have several other books that are more specific but this book will help me get a quick start instead of thumbing through the others trying to figure out what a plant is.

The third copy I have bought. This is an excellent primer on Plant families.

I love how it is laid out by plant families and their characteristics. Love love love!!!

Great classic text

This book is great beginning to understanding plants. It was exactly what I expected.

One of the only books I've seen on how to learn about plant families. Very helpful for recognizing plants and knowing what they require in order to thrive.

Amazing book, odd title. A superb work and a fascinating read, loaded with beautiful botanical illustrations. The information is organized so well that a good overview can be had in an intense 8 hour day of study perhaps, but I'd like to meet the brainiac who can master this material in a day! It's a massive amount of information, extremely well presented.

One of the best top of the line references for wild plants, edible plants, and medical plants

I love the approach on this book. I learn by doing, and there is definitely plenty of doing with this text. The description of each plant family and its species is detailed enough to give me confidence with identifying plants. Learning about plant identification has been both adventurous and fun. I recommend this book for students of botany and those who just love plants.

Great reference material

This is a great book for those wanting to be able to key out plants for identification.

As a national parks naturalist, this proves to be one of the best resources I own! An excellent piece of work!

Love the beautiful book, don’t agree with the authors evolution beliefs incorporated but everything else is great and super duper helpful

Good reference book for learning the basics about plants.

Love this book! It is very well written and easy to follow.

If you are looking to get into botany, this is a great place to start!

Obviously can’t learn all the info this book contains in a day, but can learn a ton from this “family” down guide. What characteristics are in the mint family or rose family, etc.

great book

Wonderful book.

Love. Great info.

Wonderfully written and very simple. I have used this book for my Plant ID Hort classes and beyond, lots of great information!

Of all the nature books I own this may be one of my favorites, if not the number one favorite. I am in college, and nothing is more exciting to me at school, than when I have the pleasure of studying under a passionate teacher. This book was written by a passionate teacher. All the work put into, along with all the material the author has shared online just shows how much he loves his subject matter. This will be in my library for a lifetime. Thank you Mr. Elpel.

Just what I asked for in great condition. I really love this book.

Love this book. It is helping me understand so much about plants.

Wonderful intro to the plant families! I'd LOVE it if it was twice as big, so he could go into more detail about everyone in his writing style, which is more easily read and remembered than most botanical authors.

My wife and I are Tillamook, Oregon Master Gardeners. While taking one of our yearly classes, we had an OSU guest instructor who kept referring back to this book and said that it was a must for the Northwest gardener. It's great for plant identification. Great reference book to have in your gardening library.

Wish they touched more on the plants in the Southern Hemisphere, but I love this book! Very helpful and well written

Beautiful informative book, exactly what we wanted. It may take years to learn as much as these experts but I shall do my best.

Amazing book for the avid outdoors person. Im a seasoned woodsman and this blew me away woth its easy to understand identification format. A+

This gives the absolute bare essentials necessary to identify plants. No person should go out thinking they know how to identify plants without at least this level of understanding. For what it is it is among the best books out there.

This is serious book which starts out explaining the parts of plant, and continues in an easy to read and understand analysis of them. Great for Botany students or anyone who wants to go into detail. The illustrations are easy to understand with side notes. Amazing book to supplement any college text.

I liked that it teaches you how to identify plants by the physical structure of the flowers. I would love photos with it.

Just want I was looking for.

I am a teacher and I really appreciate it when excellent teaching strategies are used. T Elpel carefully organizes the information and also uses mnemonic devices (jingles, comparisons, etc.). The title is misleading - it is not THAT simplified. But if you read the intro pages you will understand the plant parts better which makes it easier to remember the differences between the families. It is always better if you comprehend why there are differences rather that just trying to memorize them.

Clear, excellent photos and drawings. Easy plant keys for things that are in bloom.

Quality was good.

I can’t even use it. This book smells horrible, as though it was sitting in a moldy basement.

I'm happy with this item and would recommend it to my family and friends.

I was misled by the name "Botany in a Day" as it sounded too basic. I was surprised at just how much information is packed into this book. I use it in my Field Botany class and highly recommend it.

This book is wonderful! Through it learning plants and their properties makes sense now, and so has become easy to remember.

a most interesting approach to plant ID, real sense of how fun it is to know

Still learning. Definitely not one day but still useful.

fantastic book, I have put it to use several times

Easiest way to learn, pattern recognition is a superior way to remember and recognize that memorizing.

This book is exactly what I have been looking for! I am studying to be an Herbalist and identofying plants is a huge part of that! This book ia going to be a perfect asset to my studies!

I love primitive skills. This is a fantastic book for general and specific plant knowledge in general, but my primitive side loves it most.

Review

Great Resource Book - but don't expect to learn it in a day.

This book is a great way to learn plant families, a must for any aspiring botanist. The title is hyperbole, however, it will certainly take more than a day to retain the vast amount of information in this book. Starts with a nice, easy to understand intro.

Makes botany easy to understand

I bought this book to read about various species. It’s basically just picture.

Great book!!

Great book! Perfect starting point for any level of Botanist.

Awesome. Makes learning about plants not so intimidating. You CAN learn botany in a day!

Wonderful book and timely delivery.

Botany In a Day? Yes! Any one interested in wildflowers or herbal remedies should buy this book. It is one book so awesomely imformative and educational that you will just be blown away with the style. There is a great break down on the Latin classification, specialized traits of the different families and hints about what to be looking for and why. It's really the best, one of a kind book you could find. I've looked!

This is a very well-organized and helpful book. Illustrations and information are easy to find and use. Keep on hand for emergency use.

This book is great for anyone wanting to learn more about botany. Well thought out and easy to follow. Does a great job covering the basics so you can get started identifying plants.

This is not only informative, but also fun to read. It gives you enough information without overloading you.

Excellent resource for the amateur botanist! Very readable with good illustrations. Especially helpful are the key words giving the main characteristics of the various plant families.

Easy to understand and learn.

Thinking of taking some classes and this book was recommended highly.

Excellent. Must read - you'll learn a lot!

Very informative book!

For classically trained botanists this book takes a leap into simplifing taxonomy that doesn't quite work, but for someone new to the field, perhaps this approach will work.

Awesome botany book. This book will help you catch on to plant identification quickly.

I love this book!! It's classroom grade and easy to work with!

Excellent book! Great color pictures and I really liked that the author talks to you in conversation instead of just making statements. The reviews that say title misleading "Botany in a day", and no way to learn botany in a day. First of all in the overview on the back of the book clearly states "an introductory tuditorial"....if you step back and look at the book as a whole you will see the author clearing states that "Part 2" is a REFERENCE book, therefore the first 36 pages yes gives a bird eye view of the recommended 8 Family classifications; 1. Mint 2. Parsley 3. Mustard 4. Pea 5. Lily 6. Grass 7. Rose and 8.Aster. , Picking this book up and committing a "day" to study (not a mere flip through). The average person may be able to read the first 36 pages. (Reading skills very,agree).. *The review that said this is not a new method "not it's not today", but if you look at the year first published, **I looked since I figured that was the issue...when the author wrote this it was not taught everywhere! ..... in fact the botany class I sat in was so confusing I dropped it. I Would have been gratefull for this type of teaching, so no not "every person has been exposed to this method also, no one has "every piece of the puzzle" and when a person stops learning, they stop growing. The book references other recourses as well including Web sites. I am very glad I got this book and Deffinely recommend it.

Great book; great condition.

I love nature, but never got into plants because I just didn't understand how to identify them. Thomas Elpel breaks identifying plants into easy steps that anyone can follow, even those of us without a background in botany. This is the book I have been looking for to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of the natural world. It is a great book to learn from and to take with you in the field. I will carry it with me despite it's big size, it is well worth it if you want to learn about plants. Thanks for making the fascinating world of plants understandable for us!

Ok, I cannot improve on the 5 star reviews already written. It IS the definitive guide.

This is the best book for identifying plant families. It is essential for every Master Gardener Plant Clinic!

It is misleading to suggest that botany or plant identification can be done in a day as the title suggests. Rather what this book does is presents an outline and some of the details of a method for learning to recognize the family relationships among plants based on their morphological features, both vegetative and reproductive. Despite the fact that the author originally approached plant identification one-by-one, learning family recognition by morphological features (his recognizing patterns) is not a new or unique approach. Rather it has been taught widely in many schools for more than a century. Learning families by their features is a great technique, but does not by any stretch of the imagination lead to plant identification in a day, much less a month or even sometimes years with some groups. The true value of this book is in providing a beginner with a starting point and serving as a reference for some of the most important features of many common and widespread families. For one just trying plant identification through family recognition, the line drawings and colorful examples for the families presented are useful and valuable. The utility of the generic information varies from being very useful and interesting to unimportant. There also are significant errors and deficiencies in the book, as for example, with the minimal coverage of without doubt the most important family of plants to all living organisms, the grasses. As another example, the concept of regular and irregular flowers as presented on the inside cover is wrong. The concept does not have simply to do with flower parts being identical in size, shape and color. Rather it has everything to do with the symmetry of the corolla (occasionally the calyx), that is, whether the flower shows bilateral (irregular) or radial (regular) symmetry when viewed from the front. I can't comment on the accuracy or value of the medicinal information given in the book, rather I would urge any reader to exercise great caution when ingesting any plant part. I always told my students that some plants will kill you just as dead as some fish, snakes, mammals, spiders etc., and just because an herbal publication or a friend recommends the use of a particular plant part to cure a particular ailment does not make it safe or effective. After all during the middle ages the herbalists of the day recommended chewing wheat as a rabies cure. The family keys are only marginally useful in my opinion. In spite of its shortcomings the author is to be commended for helping to popularize the family recognition concept in plant identification. I suspect this book, warts and all, will encourage folks new to botany to want to identify plants, and that is always a good thing. While I can't enthusiastically recommend it, the modest price makes it worth having on one's bookshelf.

Classic hands-on botany book - none better for what it does... you learn my pictures. Great supplement to a standard botany textbook.

This book puts everything into related patterns for better understanding. Great idea to organize for better learning!

Wonderful guide to ID plants based on blooms.

I ordered this book because it was required for my botany class. It is helpful and has good illustrations. I am happy with my purchase.

I bought this book because I wanted to improve my plant ID skills. I also wanted to learn the relationships between the plant families/genera. While this book is very well researched and laid out, it wasn't effective in improving my plant ID. Here's why: Most people, myself included, want to learn to identify a plant by simply looking at it. Unfortunately the majority of this book focuses on flowers. It's about counting individual parts of sometimes very small flowers. While it is true that leaves and plant structure vary by species, plant health, seasonality, etc, those are still the easiest ways to ID a plant in my opinion. After reading this book I don't think that my plant identification skills have improved since personally I'm not interested in waiting around for the plant to flower then dissecting the flower. There are better ways. I do have respect for the author and this book for it's very methodical and scientific approach to laying out many of the different families, genera, and species.

I bought this as a companion to the herbmentor website for the course learning your plants - it's very informative, and there is an overwhelming amount of information.

Good job simplifying a complex subject

I enjoyed this book very much it was very informative lots of pictures and was very helpful to me thanks

Approved by my Botany PhD wife!

Excellent resource for taxonomy work

Lives up to the hype!

fabulous, helpful book for all levels of plant people.

Easy to read and logically laid out. A must have for anyone really interested in seeing the patterns of plant families and how this can help you to identify plants in North America and beyond.

One of the best botany books I have ever read.

I havent gotten to deep in this book, but i have read the beginning and i grasp the concept of the book. And the concept is great! It is very evolution theory based, and that sucks. So be aware of that. I wouldnt recommend you let your kids read it without first reading the intro and how to use this book section first and then either editing it or have a discussion with them about evolution and faith. What ever your faith may be.

Great book for the non-botanist. Very helpful for new permaculture design ideas on creating plant guilds.

Great edition, using this book for classes, easy to use, easy to understand, can't wait to get more by this author

Excellent pictures

I am using this book as a supplement Plant Biology.

Was a Christmas gift to someone else. they liked it.

Great way to learn how to identify genus, family, species, etc. of plants in an easy-to-read manner.

Nice pictures

Great educational resource for those attempting to learn plant identification, I wish I could find the card game on Amazon!

I don't think there is a better book for the money. It met and exceeded all my expectations.

If you want to learn how to identify plants this is the book for you! I LOVE IT! Summarizes everything I learnt in undergraduate Botany Identification classes. I wish this was the textbook!

So easy to understand!

Very informative

For anyone outside of the field of botany who wishes to learn about the subject, this is the book! It is filled with information about plant families and species. Taxonomy is described in terms the neophyte can clearly understand.

I've had a life long interest in plants--this book is very helpful in tying it all together and helping me to understand the plant families better. Very readable.

I haven't yet read this from cover to cover, but the concept of learning plants by family is sound. It's the way I attempt to teach plants in the field. Because this is nontechnical in nature, it will be easier to use for a general audience. The family summaries and illustrations will be quite useful.

I haven't used the text to much yet as I am study online through a herbal class and haven't had a use for it yet. Wish there were more color illustrations for easier identification.

The images and illustration are gorgeous and helpful, the narrative is simple and connective. This will be dog-eared and highlighted in no time!

Best organizing introduction to botany that I have read.

Great book for learning plant identification. Great illustrations, though if Mr. Elpel ever updates this book some photographs would be great. Alas that would drive the cost up. Still love this book, and the wealth of botanical information it contains.

Certainly not "in a day." Quality book. A bit expensive for a paperback.

It a neat way tp present the material.

The book arrived in great condition. I also read good reviews about this book and decided to purchase for my husband who is an aspiring botanist.

I liked most of the book but did not find it easy to actually learn botany in a short period. Even with the book in hand, I have found it challenging to identify most plants. I still find myself relying on other resources and still fail to identify some weeds. Good to narrow down families but not good for specific plants.

For anyone interested in Nature this is a great book!

It is a difficult subject, surely not learned in a day! With practice, time and determination, the book is a really good one for learning plant families, not for the beginner or someone that wants to ID plants in the field. More of a text book.

Great book, easy to use and comprehensive.

I found the layout of this book confusing but he does thoroughly covers plant indentities. Maybe it's just me but some added color would have been nice. ( all illustrations in black/ white).

Really useful...I will take it to my local nurseries when I am shopping for plants this year...and useful to take along with me on travels....

The texts are brief and clear. The illustrations are wonderful. The book is full of useful information and the pattern method is great. Do you know if somebody is following this same method in countries like Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama or Ecuador?

Beautiful book that helps you uncover information about the many plants you have seen and how they are related....instead of identifying flora one at a time...you will learn many, no matter where you are from...

Terrific info! A lot of information in a readable format.

Literally opened up a whole new world to me.

good reference for planning my garden

Awesome Product & Awesome Seller!

Excellent shape.

This is a good book.

Great information.

loing this book.

love it!

Perfect

Libro herbal

Awesome book

Must have

Wonderful book, great condition