Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs

From the dust jacket:

Field marks of all trees, shrubs, and woody vines that grow wild in the northeastern and north-central United States and in southeastern and south-central Canada.

This volume in the famous Peterson Field Guide Series is a new and very practical approach to the identification of the trees, shrubs, and vines of northeastern and central North America. All woody plants found in this area, from lofty pines to the lowly partridgeberry, are described and most of them illustrated for quick and accurate identification.

Although the book is thorough enough for the most demanding student or professional biologist, the author has avoided use of the difficult terminology that so often baffles the amateur. The beginner will find his way about in this book with greater ease than in any other botanical guide.

A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs fol- lows the Peterson system of identification, which emphasizes visual differences and similarities rather than taxonomic relationships (although these are clearly indicated in an appendix). Plants that resemble one another are illustrated together and their differences are pointed out. Characteristics of leaf shape, bark texture, twig and bud types, leaf scars, and fruit make recognition quick and positive. There is information on general growth habits, environment, uses by man and wildlife and as a further aid there are keys to winter identification. A series of silhouettes shows the typical shapes of some of our more distinctive trees.

The entire book, from the organization of its contents to the pattern of its pages, has been planned for maximum usefulness in the field.

Mr. Petrides, a veteran field naturalist, has a long record of teaching and research: in the National Park Service, the U.S. Wildlife Service, Texas A and M College, and now at Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science at East Lansing.