UK Wildflower ID Book - Recommendations please

[Nomad64]

Hi all,

I'm looking for recommendations for a decent UK wildflower ID field guide.

I've got a few foraging etc. guides and (starting from a low base) am getting more familiar with the stuff in UK meadows, hedgerows, woods etc that you can eat and use but am looking for a guide to the other flowers.

Some of the guides cover the UK "and Europe" which can be frustrating but the inclusion of alien species is useful.

Frances Rose's Wild Flower Key seems to be highly recommended but seems to require more botanical knowledge than I have or am likely to acquire any time soon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Flower-Key-Revised-identify/dp/0723251754/ref=pd_sim_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51D%2B3OmRWiL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR109%2C160_&refRID=EP80W2HB8XTTP78ET3GK

The Collins guide is about to be updated and Harrap's guide seems well thought of.

Grateful for any recommendations please.

 

[SCOMAN]

I got the Collins guide at the ferry terminal at Lyness on Hoy. They ask for a donation to the lifeboat so I gave £2. My edition is the Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe by Peter Heukels and done in conjunction with 'The Wildlife Trusts'. There are 300 pages of pictures then a lengthy family and species description. It cites itself as 'The only photographic field guide you can use in the wild'. It's a heavy book though.

 

[baggins]

Roses is a great book but yes, it does require a bit more knowledge on botanics. Our go to guides (that are small enough to cary) are Roger Philips (the fungi guru). He has a series called 'The Photographic Guide To Identify', and include garden and field weeds: Wild Flowers of Mountain and Moorland; Wild Flowers of Roadsides and Waste Places; Coastal Wild Flowers; Woodland Wild Flowers; Weeds.
they are great and, if you know where you going, you only need to take the ones you need for that environment.
They are limited, but give you a good range and if used in conjunction with the Collins or Rose books and the ever present google, i'm sure you'll be able to id most things. Also, you can often pick them up secondhand on Amazon or Evilbay.

 

[Willcurrie]

Get Rodger phillips - wild flowers of britain. Just got a copy of this and his tree one. Absolutely recomended them to anyone, I was going to start a post to recommend them here. Probably the best reference books on these subjects I've ever seen.

 

[Nomad64]

Get Rodger phillips - wild flowers of britain. Just got a copy of this and his tree one. Absolutely recomended them to anyone, I was going to start a post to recommend them here. Probably the best reference books on these subjects I've ever seen.

Thanks, two votes for Roger Phillips then. From a quick interweb search, they seem to have been out of print for a while but old copies are available fairly cheaply from the Bay of Evil and @mazon marketplace. Are the photos/print quality in these older books OK?

 

[Willcurrie]

The photos are good quality, doubt you could spend 5 or 6 quid better.

 

[Nomad64]

The photos are good quality, doubt you could spend 5 or 6 quid better.

A bit over £7 with the postage but just ordered a copy - thanks to all for recommendations.

 

[Macaroon]

Best guide I've ever used is a Collins publication, ISBN 0 00 219069 9 The Wildflowers of Britain and Northern Europe, by Richard Fitter, Alistair Fitter and Marjorie Blarney; although all the illustrations are hand drawn it's the best I've ever used by a Welsh mile! A good how-to-use guide, and the colour plates are far more life-like than photos as they seem to be able to better capture the essence of the plant in question rather than a snapshot
of one example at one moment in time.

You used to be able to pick it up for very little money used, definitely worth the search.

 

[Nomad64]

Best guide I've ever used is a Collins publication, ISBN 0 00 219069 9 The Wildflowers of Britain and Northern Europe, by Richard Fitter, Alistair Fitter and Marjorie Blarney; although all the illustrations are hand drawn it's the best I've ever used by a Welsh mile! A good how-to-use guide, and the colour plates are far more life-like than photos as they seem to be able to better capture the essence of the plant in question rather than a snapshot
of one example at one moment in time.

You used to be able to pick it up for very little money used, definitely worth the search.

Thanks - just got a copy for £1.99 at my local Oxfam bookshop.

 

[awarner]

I like the Collins flower guide, but would never use it as a single source of information as some of the drawings are questionable, but it's a good start.
ISBN 978-0-00-718389-0

 

[nic a char]

yes photos beat drawings/paintings every time for field ID

 

[markjohnlang]

as a professional ecologist who teaches plant ID i would use Francis Rose the wildflower key, its not as technical as it looks and once you get used to it is fantastic. Nothing else works as well in my view

 

[Herbalist1]

I'd second the Francis Rose Wild Flower Key as about the best book for field ID. It is excellent and doesn't take much practise to get to grips with.

Sorry but I have to disagree with nic a char. I think illustrations by a competent and qualified botanical illustrator ( as opposed to someone who is just a gifted artist) are far more useful for field ID. Photos are snapshots of a plant at that moment and it can look very different throughout its growing season. Also in many species there is a good degree of variation between plants, therefore it is difficult to take a photo that is characteristic of the species as a whole. Illustrations can overcome these problems, and can also include details that aren't present on the plant at the same time such as flowers and fruit/seed capsule.
Photos taken in the field can often be confusing it is can to difficult to separate plant from background. Often the foliage of more than one plant is present in the same photo etc. I've seen some appalling photos in some field guides.
The Photos in the Roger Philips books are excellent and there are good photo guides available but I think on the whole good illustrations are much more useful. Saying that I do have and use both types and also dichotomous keys like the classic Clapham, Tutin and Warberg but that does require a bit more botanical knowledge as it doesn't have any pictures at all.

 

[Harlequin1974]

No good for actually identifying wild flowers, but for connecting with their regional histories, mythology and (British) pseudonyms I heartily recommend the Englishman's Flora by Geoffrey Grigson. I, for one, much prefer Somerset's "Bumble-Bee Nettle" to the ubiquitous "Dead Nettle" for example!!
Jim

 

[Nomad64]

Thanks all for recommendations.

I know have copies of the Roger Phillips, Wild Flowers of Britain and Fitter, Fitter and Blamey, Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, both quite old but cheap and look good. I'm sure these will keep me going for some time but given the consistent recommendations for Frances Rose's Wildflower Key, I'll add that to my wish list.

Thanks again all.

 

[Jackdaw]

Another ecologist who plumps for Rose. As has already been stated, it doesn't actually require that much technical knowledge, just a knowledge of the parts of a plant. Luckily, it covers this as well. If you think plant ID is daunting; try grasses!