Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary

First, I'm not a professional botanist. At best I would call myself an enthusiastic amateur, a hobby botanist along with my photography hobby. I want to know what it is I'm seeing and photographing.I've bought 3 Amazon books in the last few months looking for a comprehensive explanation of Botanical terminology. This one, the 3rd, has pretty much filled the need for me. It contains numerous line drawings to illustrate the term in question. The drawings are numbered and the numbers are referenced in the definitions. There are reportedly more than 1900 illustrations along with definitions of 2700 Botanical terms. A thoroughly useful book. The only thing I feel it is missing is a pronunciation guide. Many of the Latin words leave me wondering if I am saying it correctly. That's not a deal breaker and I'm very happy to see these excellent illustrations. This book goes in my library and I'm going to buy a second copy to take with me when I am on my road trip searches for new plants.

Fantastic. It is exactly what it says it is and it really helps to learn botanical terms. I enjoy just randomly selecting pages just as much as referring to it in order to better understand some key.

I purchased this book as part of a course. This is probably the best book for anyone interested in plant identification. In one section it is set up like a dictionary so you can easily look up unfamiliar terms alphabetically. In the other section it is set up by category, leaves, stems, flowers etc. so if you don't really know what you are looking for you can easily search by category. I got this book today and have already used it a bunch of times to refresh my memory on terminology. The definitions are scientific but easy to understand and read with really nice drawings to represent the term. Probably the best book in my botanical library.

This book arrived shrink-wrapped in plastic. It is very obviously a brand new book, with crisp pages and no damage. It arrived on time and is exactly as described. My botany professor recommended it as an aide for plant identification, and I can definitely see why. It is full of important plant vocabulary, with drawings to illustrate their meaning. I'm very happy with this book!

This book is very valuable to me as I complete a college level botany course. The only problem is the build quality. The spine doesn't have nearly enough glue and started to fall apart almost immediately.For anyone thinking about buying: Check the spine as soon as you buy it, if you wait too long you wont be able to return!

If you are using dicotomous keys to identify plants this is the best investment you can can make besides the plant manual you are keying in. Hands down excellent. Haven't had this book let me down yet and I do not expect it will. I find that it even contains enough detail and images to cause me to page through it as I am keying out plants or just for fun, yet it is still a concise format that is easy to use and carry in the field. Any aspiring botinist should own this book.

I've been having a great time playing Citizen Scientist this summer, spotting and photographing plants for the iMapInvasives program in New York State. I have no formal botanical training, so I rely on a number of different field guides to invasives (and the similar native species I might mistake for them) when making my identifications. "Inflorescences are corymbose or paniculate"...??? Oh, good, this guide has a glossary. "Corymb (corymbose): a flat-topped inflorescence with outer flowers on longer pedicels...." Oy. Eventually, after a lot of back and forth between the glossary and the species identification info, I usually have a fair notion of what I'm looking for, but a good illustration accompanying the definition can make a huge difference to my understanding. The illustrations in Plant Identification Terminology are terrific -- beautifully clear, with just the right amount of detail. I love this book!

This book is really useful for defining terminology and exposing you to words that will be used in the field. Bought it to go along with a horticulturist course I’m taking and it’s the perfect companion book.