Forest Plants of Central Ontario

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Summary: Review of Forest Plants of Central Ontario
Review: I used this plant guide in Killarney Provincial Park (Ontario) and found it useful for identifying major plant species of the area. This guide is interesting because it includes both a photograph and a line drawing of each plant featured in the guide. Plants are divided into lifeforms (e.g., shrub) and descriptions of each plant within a lifeform are contained in a separate section of the guide. The keys for plant identification are not detailed, but the objective of this book is to provide a simple, non-technical guide for plant identification. The authors meet this objective. For more detailed plant identification, a technical botanical guide (Michigan Flora by Ed Voss) probably should be used instead of Forest Plants of Central Ontario. I recommend Forest Plants of Central Ontario as an interesting, non-technical guide for identifying major plant species of the region. It is appropriate for more advanced botanists as a handy field guide and is also appropriate for investigators who have no formal botanical training but who want to quickly learn to identify plants.

Rating:
Summary: Review of Forest Plants of Central Ontario
Review: I used this plant guide in Killarney Provincial Park (Ontario) and found it useful for identifying major plant species of the area. This guide is interesting because it includes both a photograph and a line drawing of each plant featured in the guide. Plants are divided into lifeforms (e.g., shrub) and descriptions of each plant within a lifeform are contained in a separate section of the guide. The keys for plant identification are not detailed, but the objective of this book is to provide a simple, non-technical guide for plant identification. The authors meet this objective. For more detailed plant identification, a technical botanical guide (Michigan Flora by Ed Voss) probably should be used instead of Forest Plants of Central Ontario. I recommend Forest Plants of Central Ontario as an interesting, non-technical guide for identifying major plant species of the region. It is appropriate for more advanced botanists as a handy field guide and is also appropriate for investigators who have no formal botanical training but who want to quickly learn to identify plants.

Rating:
Summary: From trees to liverworts in one book
Review: This book covers a small area of Eastern North America, so it is easier to identify plants that you might find in say the Ottawa Valley, without ploughing through all the plants that only occur further south. It includes trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, sedges & rushes, ferns & allies, mosses & liverworts and lichens, all in one book. For the non-botanist this is the best book for this area (including West Quebec). Unlike other wildflower books that concentrate on flowers, this shows and describes leaves and fruits, making identification easier at times when there are no flowers. Charts and keys at the start of each section help in identification.