How to Identify Grasses & Grasslike Plants: Sedges and Rushes

Rating:
Summary: Excellent manual on morphology of these difficult groups.
Review: As a former student of the late Dr. Harrington who taught me much about plant classification, I highly recommend this book. It is similar to his How to Identify Plants, but the diagrams are much better. It is a very thorough review of the morphology and terminology specific to sedges, rushes, and grasses. These are all very difficult families to identify and there are few books that so thoroughly describe the critical and unique morphology of these plants. This is a knowledge that is critical to the identification of these fascinating and important plants. Dr. Harrington also includes a section on the vegetative characteristics, especially of grasses. For field ecologists like myself, being able to identify plants without the flowers, especially grasses, is critical when doing quantitative sampling. If you are just a beginner in your pursuit of these difficult plants, this is an excellent and valuable resource. But for even the plant scientist this book provides an excellent reference to refresh your memory regarding the unique and important mophology of grasses, sedges, and rushes.

Rating:
Summary: Best glossary
Review: Not especially useful for beginner grass identification because concentrates on structural detail rather than overall appearance of growth. However, I recommend it for its excellent illustrated glossary.

Rating:
Summary: Best glossary
Review: Not especially useful for beginner grass identification because concentrates on structural detail rather than overall appearance of growth. However, I recommend it for its excellent illustrated glossary.

Rating:
Summary: How to Identify Grasses & Grasslike Plants
Review: This book is practical and systematic. The topic is difficult, at best, and the author gives all the tools and understanding needed to build up your skills. As a consultant that works with native plant materials, I have found this book to be a useful field reference in separating out invasive species.

Rating:
Summary: How to Identify Grasses & Grasslike Plants
Review: This book is practical and systematic. The topic is difficult, at best, and the author gives all the tools and understanding needed to build up your skills. As a consultant that works with native plant materials, I have found this book to be a useful field reference in separating out invasive species.