Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas - by Michael John Haddock (Paperback)

About the Book

Perfect for backpack or glove compartment, Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas offers a wealth of quick-access information and finding aids graced with color that leaps of the page, making plant identification a joy rather than a chore. It's a book guaranteed to send even chronic homebodies out into the great outdoors in search of these elusive blooms.

Book Synopsis

How do you know when you're face to face with a fringe-leaf ruellia? Is that particular flower button gayfeather or dotted gayfeather? And what about the pod clinging to your pants? Could it have come from a bird-foot trefoil?

For anyone venturing out into the wilds of Kansas and the region, identifying plants just got a whole lot easier. Michael Haddock has updated and expanded his guide to more than 400 wildflowers, grasses, sedges, and rushes. This guide documents many of the state's most common and conspicuous species--as well as some seldom encountered or listed in field guides--and includes many that are found throughout the Great Plains. This revised and expanded edition of Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas supersedes earlier guides not only in the number of species it includes--plus its coverage of grasses--but also in its spectacular, true-to-life color photos.

The first edition of Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide (2005) quickly became a highly popular resource for people interested in the flora of Kansas. In the nearly twenty years since the original publication, there have been advances in our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of vascular plants. Studies of DNA, macro- and micromorphology, cytology, phenology, ecology, and biogeography have affected the circumscriptions and names of some of the families, genera, and species recognized in the first edition. Consequently, an important component of this revision is the update to nomenclature and the circumscription of taxa along lines that are more consistent with current knowledge.

Perfect for backpack or glove compartment, Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas offers a wealth of quick-access information and finding aids graced with color that leaps off the page, making plant identification a joy rather than a chore. It's a book guaranteed to send even chronic homebodies out into the great outdoors in search of these elusive blooms.

Review Quotes

"From blue funnel-lilies to Rocky Mountain zinnias, this colorful new edition adds even more species to the best field guide for Kansas wildflowers, providing detailed, exquisite photos to carry with you into the field."--Kelly Kindscher, author of Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide and Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide

"Enlarged to include 99 more species, more stunning photos, and updated names and descriptions, Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide, Revised and Expanded is a colorful and informative foray into Kansas flora. This beautiful, easy-to-use field guide belongs in every naturalist's backpack or library."--Craig C. Freeman, coauthor of Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines in Kansas; Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds; and An Illustrated Guide to Endangered or Threatened Species in Kansas