An Illustrated Guide to Eastern Woodland Wildflowers and Trees: 350 Plants Observed at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland (Center Books)

A thorough yet user-friendly companion to the authors’ popular paperback Sugarloaf: The Mountain’s History, Geology, and Natural Lore―both books are the result of a ten-year collaboration―this volume is an exquisitely illustrated guide to 350 eastern woodland wildflowers and trees found on site at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland. Many of these plants also thrive across a wide region of the eastern United States and Canada, making this guide a remarkably helpful resource for both mid-Atlantic naturalists―amateur and experienced―and botanical enthusiasts across North America.

Author Melanie Choukas-Bradley and illustrator Tina Thieme Brown have teamed up once again to create a practical tool for answering the age-old question frequently raised by visitors to the woods: "What is that plant over there?" At the same time, Choukas-Bradley and Brown aim to educate by presenting the plants grouped by family, so that the observer will learn to anticipate the presence of certain plants based on an understanding of their family characteristics. The text describes each plant’s flower, leaf, and growth habit, gives its ideal habitat and range, describes similar species that might be confused with the plant, and gives an herbal history where applicable. And because plants are organized by family and genus, the scholarly reader can build on his or her botanical knowledge.

An Illustrated Guide to Eastern Woodland Wildflowers and Trees includes a user-friendly key, an illustrated glossary of frequently used botanical terms, and is packed with nearly 400 elaborately and artistically detailed pen-and-ink drawings to make plant identification simple and fun.