Botany in a Day - Book Review

I want to tell you about a new book I have about wildflowers. It is called Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. There are lots of ways to identify flowers. You can ask a knowledgeable friend or you can spend hours thumbing through guide books searching for a match. I think that most commonly people just call it a "pretty flower" and call it good. But there is so many more things you could learn, that make the woods come alive. Plants and their flowers are divided into groups to make their identification easier. These large groups are called "Families". Plants with certain characteristics are placed in these families. If you know what the family groups are, you are so much closer to correctly and easily identifying a plant or flower when you are out in nature. My first botany teacher back in 7th and 8th grade taught me some about plant families. I attended a one room school then, and the teacher knew his wildflowers. That is what he chose to teach for science. Our test was out on the trail on a one week back packing trip. The knowledge my teacher gave me has really helped me with my identification skills over the years. I am not a college educated botanist, I didn't even take General Biology, (I took Introduction to Physics instead), yet because of the few things I have learned, I can keep up with many people when it comes to plant identification.

Botany in a Day has the things I learned back in school, and a whole lot more that I would like to learn. It has interesting black line illustrations, and even information about which plant groups are edible or poisonous. If you are ready to learn more do get this book.