Author | Phillips, R. |
Year | 1978 |
Title | Trees in Britain, Europe and North America |
ISBN | 0 330 25480 4 |
Type | Book/Report |
How Complete | A good range of temperate species including the vast majority that can be found wild or planted in Britain and Ireland. |
Source | 224pp, Pan Books |
Illustrations | Colour photographs of foliage, flowers, fruit, bark; line drawings of tree silhouettes |
Review (by Malcolm Storey) | A photographic guide to over 500 species tree which can be found in Britain and Ireland (or elsewhere in Europe and North America - in practice trees have been so widely planted that this means here too!)
The book starts with a pictorial overview of leaf shape to quickly narow down the field when seeking to identify an unknown tree. This fills 14 pages for conifers (arranged in increasing leaf-length) followed by 36 pages for broadleaves (arranged from simplest leaf-shape to the most complex). The main body of the work consists of the tree species arranged alphabetically by genus. Each species has a short description next to two or more photographs depicting the foliage, flowers, fruits, bark etc. These have been taken against a neutral background - the best way to illustrate such features. However the colour reproduction, although adequate, is not very good by modern standards. Near the end of the book are 5 pages illustrating some of the more distinctive barks. There are only a few representative species of large groups like willows, nor are the microspecies of Whitebeams covered. |
Errata, Corrigenda & Comments | Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which species the photos belong to without reading the description. (eg top row on 194, top two rows on 195). |
Examine | in the Hand ( with x8 or x10 hand lens is also useful) |
Notes & Purpose | Status | Taxon | English | Classification |
---|---|---|---|---|
For identification | Current | [Trees] | broadleaved and coniferous trees | Plantae |
Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioInfo website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.