National Geographic Pocket Guide to Wildflowers of North America

Love the images of wildflowers. Bought a second copy so I could use both sides of the pages.

Good for the flowers that are in this guide but want more flowers from my specific area in the Sierra Foothills

it will be a good tool to use for hunting wildflowers

The pictures and drawings in this book are very helpful. Gorgeous pics.

Just what we were looking for

Great gift idea with much info

Bought as a gift for my in-laws to keep in their new camper. They loved it! Perfect for keeping in your pocket as you hike.

Very concise and useful book for the casual outdoor types who see beauty but who are curious about the flower, it's range and uniqueness. So, it's not scientific overkill but does convey enough for a person to understand a flower's "roots" (pun intended). A real plus is that it is indexed by color which simplifies finding a flower that nothing else is known about it. (I wish I could find a bird book that did the same!)

Okay.

Attractively organized field guide of the more common wildflowers. Photographs and coloured drawings help with identification. The only additional feature which would be helpful would be maps showing the range of each wildflower in North America. The description in words is very general

Love the images of wildflowers. Bought a second copy so I could use both sides of the pages.

Good for the flowers that are in this guide but want more flowers from my specific area in the Sierra Foothills

it will be a good tool to use for hunting wildflowers

The pictures and drawings in this book are very helpful. Gorgeous pics.

Just what we were looking for

Great gift idea with much info

Bought as a gift for my in-laws to keep in their new camper. They loved it! Perfect for keeping in your pocket as you hike.

Very concise and useful book for the casual outdoor types who see beauty but who are curious about the flower, it's range and uniqueness. So, it's not scientific overkill but does convey enough for a person to understand a flower's "roots" (pun intended). A real plus is that it is indexed by color which simplifies finding a flower that nothing else is known about it. (I wish I could find a bird book that did the same!)

Okay.

Attractively organized field guide of the more common wildflowers. Photographs and coloured drawings help with identification. The only additional feature which would be helpful would be maps showing the range of each wildflower in North America. The description in words is very general

It's amazing how beautiful wildflowers can be. Love the way the information is laid out - easy to read!

Best wildflower book I have found! The color coded sections make it much easier to identify.

A wonderful resource!

I feel like it is missing a lot of wild flowers. Hard to differentiate flowers based on descriptions and pictures in book.

Handy booklet. Limited collection, of course, but popular plants are mostly covered. Some illustrations were not up to National Geographic standards

Not Regional, covers the whole country so it is of very limited use. Limited number of plants included, but nice pictures and information for what is included. Better to get a regional guide.

Great Book

Theres some invasive weed that produces flowers, bought this to identify + whatever other wildness germinates. Color coordinated. Perfect. It was baneweed that invaded my yard

Love the book. Use it to identify plants on hikes.

Got it right on time, and no problems.

Nice little hand book

VERY LIMITED INFO------NAT GEO used to be the best-----

item as expected

Good info as expected.

AWESOME BOOK

Ah, Florida. One thing you have to admit: we have a lot of... uh... flowers! (We've got a lot of other stuff too, but you don't need a guidebook for that.) We have so many flowers, in fact, that a great many of them cannot be found in this book. I have lived in a few other states and going through this book brings back many memories of the wildflowers there. It seems like you'll probably have pretty good luck with this guide if you're not in growing zones 9, 10, or 11. Starting a search in this guide is pretty easy. Turn to the inside front cover to find the pages you'll need by flower color (or for poisonous plants) and then flip through those pages to find the photograph of the flower you're searching for. (NatGeo: that process could be made easier and quicker by putting color codes on the page edges!) The color photos and botanical drawings are a fairly good size and I rarely have to squint to see that this isn't the flower I'm looking for, either. Generally when I identify something I find a photo that looks like that thing, then I glance at the range map to see if it can be found in my area. It's a good plan... but in this book there are no range maps. There are written descriptions, which are not as easily processed. For me, this slows an already frustrating search. The flower descriptions are surprisingly good, especially when you consider they're only about 120 words each. They not only describe the parts of the plant, but sometimes include unusual life cycle stages or information about the butterflies that feed on the plant. Habitat and bloom period are also included in the Key Facts section next to the photo. There is a Poisonous section (containing eastern poison ivy, Atlantic poison oak, and poison sumac) and a short section on exotic invasives. The book itself is sturdy and fits easily in a large pocket. There are creases in the front and back covers to allow you to force the book open to a particular page without cracking the spine. The page corners are rounded, which means I can stuff the book into a pocket without catching on the corners or damaging them. If this book contained the information I needed it would be absolutely fantastic. It is definitely going with me whenever I venture back into the colder areas of the country. But because the number of species has to be limited in order to make a book that isn't too heavy or thick to carry, it might be better to produce guides for each region, rather than to try to cover all of North America in one tiny book. If NatGeo did that, and if they included range maps instead of (or with) descriptions, I'd have to give six stars.

This handy little book makes wildflower identification a walk in the park. You don't have to lug a big field guide on your hikes--just slip this little handbook into your jacket pocket and you're good to go. Flowers are grouped by color, which allows you to quickly identify a flower. The author has included a photograph and a drawing for each of the 160 species mentioned. This helps a lot, because the illustration includes a lot of detail for an individual plant, while the photograph shows what you may typically see the the field. And that field is not limited to region, but includes the continental US and Canada. I like that there's also basic information regarding wildflowers, which explains weeds, invasives, and the basic structure of a flower. There is also a section on poisonous species, which is helpful if you plan to actually stray off the beaten path. Each page features a specific flower, with a little fact box offering a description, its range, habitat and bloom period. The author then has a nice, clear explanation of how and where to actually find the flower, as well as a bit of lore regarding traditional uses or similar species. (It's interesting that some of them are named after parasites--like tickseed and fleabane.) This book is fully indexed and the binding looks sturdy, which is important for any book that doesn't sit on your shelf but rather goes places with you. A few caveats: *Because the book is small and easy to flip through, this is no big deal, but if the margins of the pages had little color-codes, you could find your target section more easily. *North America, here, doesn't include Mexico. If you're planning on a little day trip while vacationing in Cancun, this book probably wouldn't be a good choice. *There aren't any carnivorous plants, which do have flowers and are found in North America. I know this is a basic and brief guide, but if you want to get really serious about wildflower identification, you may want to back this up with that big field guide I mentioned earlier. This is definitely worth having if you like to hike or camp, or if you are considering adding a wildflower garden to your yard. You can eventually add books that give you more detail on finding or cultivating wildflowers, but this is great if your interest is just beginning to bloom.

The National Geographic Pocket Guide to Wildflowers of North America is a small offering of 160 wildflowers found in the rather large territory of North America. Those expecting a comprehensive book that has every wildflower ever recorded, obviously need to look further with little expectation of the ease of travel that a smaller book like this offers. What I like about this book as an amateur hiker and lover of the outdoors, is the fact that it is divided in sections by the color of the flower--I wish these colors were printed on a tab-sized portion of the page edges to make for easy access. I easily rectified this by adding some colored book tabs of my own. Each page is dedicated to a specific flower that includes some key facts, region, bloom times, a color photograph, a drawing and some interesting historical information. Species name, size as well as some common names are also included. There is an all-important section of poisonous plants for those who cannot keep their hands to themselves . . . just kidding;) The beginning pages of the book include a diagram on the parts of the flower, the definition of leaf shapes and leaf arrangements and types which will prove necessary when understanding the nomenclature used to report on the specific flowers. All and all its a nice introduction for a nice price. If National Geographic is smart, it will introduce these guides by the regions it specifies in the last pages of the book before the index. 160 wildflowers per region will allow those who need more species more access to information that is concise and easily transported. Bottom line? The National Geographic Pocket Guide:Wildflowers of North America is a good introductory book that is easily transportable while one journeys into the wild. Small size and rounded pages keeps the book crisp and easily popped into a backpack. This is not a comprehensive guide, just an intro into the most popular species. I recommend to National Geographic that they use this format to produce regional books that will include more flowers.Recommended for those like myself who wish an intro. Diana Faillace Von Behren "reneofc"

This is a guide to help you identify 160 different types of wildflowers in the USA and Canada. Overall, it's a fun guide to take on a hike. Though called a pocket guide, it's a bit too big for any of my pockets though it might fit in cargo pant pockets. It's about 7.25" by 4.25", so it could easily fit in a purse or hiking pack. The flowers are initially sorted by color: yellow, orange, pink-to-purple, red, blue, white, green, and then several poisonous plants and exotic invasive plants. Within those categories, they placed those flowers that look similar to each other together so you can easily compare them. This system worked out better than I initially expected. I was able to identify several wildflowers in my lawn and fields using the book. I liked that this book had very good pictures of each plant (while in bloom) as well as a sketch of the plant. The sketch makes it easy to see the leaf, bloom, and sometimes berries or seeds, but I always find a photo initially easier to work from because you can see a plant in context. The plants included in the guide came from many different habitats--including a cactus and several water-growing plants--but were mostly found in wooded areas, grassy areas, and roadsides. Each entry took one page and contained: the common name, scientific name, height, identification information and description, habitat, range, and bloom period. The range is somewhat vague, for example, "throughout much of the U.S. and Canada except far northern areas." I expect this is because they picked wildflowers that can generally be found over very wide areas. This makes it more useful in general, but you won't find rare or regional flowers in it. The main text for each entry described the plant in detail and told how to distinguish it from similar flowers. It often told how the plant got it's name and sometimes described how the plant spreads or reproduces. It sometimes mentions things like "Native Americans used to use it for such-and-such." It doesn't give information on how to use the plants, just if it was used for something. I read the guide from start to finish and found one error: the sketches on page 60 and 61 needed to be switched. These pages face each other, so it's still easy to see and use. I was just surprised to see that error.

The design of the field guide is thin and has rounded edges. Perfect for fitting in a large pocket. However, because it is relatively thin, it can only include so much information in the book. This is not a detailed guide for wild flowers, but is something that you'd take more out in nature itself. The book is sorted by colors, so it should be relatively easy to look up a wild flower. You're probably not going to find flowers that people grow in their gardens in their book (like roses and tulips). These are strictly wild flowers from north america. And you probably won't find flowers that grow on trees either, as it appears that the flowers they only detail in this book are ground flowers.

Recently moved to the country and was astounded by the number of gorgeous flowers and weeds growing in the field and woods behind our home. The NatGeo Pocket guide to Wildflowers was perfect for my evening or morning jaunts into nature. The book actually fits in your pocket or purse so its easy to keep handy. The list of flowers is color coded so if you see a purple flower look in the blue/purple section. Each Flower comes with the plant classification and range. It as a breif description of the plant, a drawing, a picture and key facts. The book covers 160 species so it is not a botany textbook but is nice for hiking and enjoying nature.

We had to take a bit of a trip to be with relatives during the Easter weekend and I was surprised to see my husband and daughter bending over this book in the back seat of the car, engrossed completely in the contents. Not only is this a well laid out book, it addresses a topic very important to the family- what wild weeds/flowers are growing in our area. The book is well laid out. The cover is strong, and the pages are thick enough to endure consistent use, although you do not want to leave it out in the rain by any means. Every page has the title of the plant, height, photo, drawing, and a quick summary with key facts about the plant in the center, for quick information, and then more in depth information at the bottom of the page. We have learned a lot already about wildflowers that we did not know. For instance, I never knew that morning glories are not naturally blue and cream white, but purple and pink. I always wondered why the only ones that return back year after year are the purple ones- now we know! This book has created enthusiasm in our entire family to have spring hit so we can go out and start looking for some of the lesser known plants in our area. I can strongly recommend it for families who love the outdoors, especially those who homeschool or like to take nature walks with the family.

This is the kind of beautiful little guide to give to your kids or to pick up in a moment of idleness, to stimulate thinking and make one want to learn more. It's not really the kind of book to help you identify flowers, so if that's what you are looking for, this isn't the book you want. You need one of the many plant ID keys, and there are hundreds of them. This is more an appetizer of some of the more common flowers spread across our country, organized by color.

This is a concise pocket guide that helps you identify 160 wildflowers throughout the United States. The entries are arranged by color and covers key facts about the plant, how it has been used and range and habitats. The major wildflowers seem to be covered here but the book is not going to cover all of them. This is a guide for the general user and beginner. More comprehensive guides would be suggested for more serious wildflower hunters.

Beautiful and informative. I have always wanted one to take around when I am out with kids so we can identify wild flowers. It is nearly perfect. Pictures are great, and size is right. My only complain is that it does not have a close-up pictures of flowers. Instead, it has a short distance picture, which makes it difficult to identify certain flowers.

As a catalog of wildflowers, it is a decent guide book. Match the colored photo with the wildflower in question like you would with any catalog. Even Audobon's so-called "Field Guide" featured in the Amazon video of "Top 5 Field Guides" straddles the line between a field guide proper and a just a catalog of wildflowers. The rest of the 4 books in the video are catalog guides and definitely not field guides. For a true field guide to wildflowers, try Newcomb's or Peterson's field guides that use a dichotomous key to determine identification.

This is an easy-to-use, small, very portable guide to flowers. The pictures are not of great quality, and the description of poisonous plants is inadequate. The poison ivy page is short and doesn't provide sufficient guidance in avoiding it.

The taxonomy of this pocket guide is simple yet effective. It seems to be aimed at the casual hiker who wished to identify the flowering flora on his walk. For this, the pocket guide with its small size and colorful illustrations is ideal. The taxonomy works this way: wildflowers categories are organized by the color of the flower. There is a chart of the leaf types, arrangement, shape and edge. Each individual flower in the guide is identified by common and scientific name; and a key facts section is described as to size, bloom period and range. They are each also illustrated with a photo and color painting. The only error in the book is that the state flower of my native New Jersey is not the violet, but poison ivy.

This full-color guide to the native wildflowers of North America is 200 pages of easy-to-use information. It is limited by its size and scope, but my kids really enjoyed trying to identify flowers they saw using it.

The glossy photos are easy to wipe off with a cloth, which makes it perfect for taking on the trail. It is light, so it fits easily in a pocket or backpack. National Geographic also does a great job of listing key facts as well as listing further resources and guides. The handy index in the back of the book helps make identification easier. From Milkweed to Water Lilies, you will find most of the common wildflowers of North America in this expert field guide. Don't forget to put this on your Christmas stocking stuffer list this year for that outdoor lover in your family.

this is an informative little book that contains an actual photograph (plus a small drawing) of each flower with its accompanying foliage. In a handy column beside each photo a description of the flower, a description of the habitat, a listing of the range and the months during which it blooms. The scientific name for each is listed and the most familiar common name. The sole criticism I have of this book is that it only lists the one common name which is likely to vary by area. That did not prevent me from giving this one five stars. It is not as conplete as my big book, but it is handy to slip into a purse or glove box when I travel.

I like this book quite a bit and it seems sturdily made. It is plenty small enough to bring along for field reference if you wish. I really enjoy the breath of information and it is easy to read and laid out clearly. The book includes a clear color photograph of each flower as well as a color drawing of a close up singular flower head. Some of the info about each flower includes; habitat, range, bloom period, height in inches and centimeters and scientific name. There are also interesting tidbits about it's uses and history.

These is the perfect little book to take on nature walks/hikes. The pictures are beautiful, which are photographic and drawn. It is organize by color for ease of use. It has the common and scientific names with key facts that include habitat, height and blooming period. There is detailed information below the picture with facts including history. Must have for everyone who loves flowers. Flower Power!

This little book is a reasonable introduction to Wildflowers for Novices, but it is not up the usual standard for National Geographic Guides, such as the superb National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which set the standard many years ago. The book is small enough to fit into a pocket, a nice plus, but this sacrifices a great deal in coverage. Although the guide claims to cover all of North America, I think I detect a bias toward eastern wildflowers and a decided lack of information on desert species. This is a problem with Pocket Guides: there are simply too many wildflowers in North America to cover all of them. This guide focuses only on the most common. The flowers are organized by color, which is suitable for beginners, but has two problems. First, some flowers come in more than one color. Is that pale whitish blue considered white, or blue? Second, after you learn how to identify families of flowers, you want a guide organized by family, not color. Anyone who has worked on a "DYC," a D***ed Yellow Composite doesn't want to wade through a lot of yellow flowers. So, buy this as a starter, but you will want something better before long.

This book is organized into sections by colors. This makes it so easy to find that purple flower I saw in the woods. Let's face it, If I am using a wildflower guide, I probably don't have much of an idea about the actual plant. I go to the color section and then page through. The guide has lots of good information and is os easy to use. This would actually fit in my small purse. Great guide!

One criteria of a good field guide is ease of identification. While this little pocket guide categorizes 160 of the most common wildflowers by color, there's only one plant/photo per page. It's no fun fumbling through pages trying to find a mystery flower match. Worse yet, because there are more than 2,000 North American wildflowers, chances are good that mystery flower isn't even included in the National Geographic pocket guide! A more helpful idea would be to combine many flowers of the same color on one page for easy comparison and identification. My bible for wildflower ID remains

National Geographic's wildflower guide is small and easy to put in the pocket of your hiking pants or camera case, making it useful for identifying flowers while hiking. It is organized by color, so narrowing down the possibilities for that purple flower you found is easy. Its brevity means that it's not comprehensive, which means that the purple flower you found may not be featured. Because it is a pocket guide, it would be difficult to use as a tool for planning a wildflower garden. While it has the basics of where the plant can be found, general height, and other facts, it's not comprehensive enough to be able to make sure that you avoid non-native plants with certainty (native status is usually mentioned but not always). So long as you intend to use it for how it is being advertised, I think you'll be mostly happy with this pocket guide.

While this is a pretty little book and a good size to take along with you, it's unfortunately necessarily (due to the small size of pocket guides) too limited in overall scope, individual plant information, and especially pictures, to be really helpful in identifying unfamiliar plants. Many of the photos show an amassed grouping, with the only detail being a drawing, which doesn't capture and texture or high detail. I was hoping for a slim reference that would still help me positively id unfamiliar wildflowers that might be harmful to my animals, but as a serious reference, it's just too small and limited to be of much value. I'm used to "Weeds of the Great Plains" and the wonderfully comprehensive kswildflower.org, so my hopes were obviously incredibly unrealistic. I think it would be fine for casual nature hikes or perhaps narrowing down plants, but it doesn't include enough plants overall or enough detail on those included to be overly useful. I get that a pocket guide simply can't have that much to it, so I'm still giving it 3 stars for some good info, pretty pictures, and good organization (by color). But I don't see myself turning to this very often.

This is not a comprehensive guide, nor is it intended to be. It includes a brief description of a flower, organized by region, with key words and a picture or two. The photos are where I found I was really disappointed - they are not very good, the color is off, and the quality of the paper is poor. That being said, I have seen worse books, and this might be suitable for a beginner who needs something lit and portable.

This book helps you identify "160 species coast to coast" -- that isn't very many! It is frustrating to find an interesting flower, and look in a flower book, and discover once again, the mystery flower isn't in there. I think I would prefer something more regional and in-depth, where you can actually find the flower you are looking for.

I just moved to Wyoming. I'v always been interested in photographig flowers. Of almost a dozen I have photographed not one was in the book to help with identifacation.

Height, habitat, range, and bloom period info are easy to access. Photo of plant in habitat, plus very detailed illustration, are very helpful in identification.

This is perfect pocket guide while hiking!