Common Weeds of the United States

For years, I just pulled them. Then I got curious -- what are these critters? How do they propagate? So, I ordered two booksWeeds of the Northeast (Comstock books) as well as "Common Weeds of the United States". Two sources are better than one -- always! I bring home my specimens from the garden and try to sort out what my garden -- not me! -- is growing. Sometimes, the color photos in "Weeds of the Northeast" show me exactly what I have. With other invaders, I have found the answer in "Comon Weeds". The black and white drawings sometimes capture what a human observes better than a photo. Plants are as different as people, and somtimes a human (not a camera) deciding what makes this plant itself is better captured in pen and ink and mind. And, perhaps, most important -- what a treasure of a book to just browse! While this book is old and may not be helpful to a commercial farmer who wants to just "kill 'em". It is a wonderful source for a non-biologist who wants to understand "Who grows here -- and why". I think, because of this book, I have become a fan of weeds! I still pull them and put their bodies in the compost pile, but now I name them and -- in part -- understand them. A great book -- imagine this -- human knows the weed, captures what her mind knows of the weed in pen on white paper -- no single specimen may have ever looked like this -- and you look at the pen drawing and say "Yes!" this is it!

I farm and am always curious about weeds that come up in my fields this book has been very helpful, when you know what weeds you are trying to kill, you can pick the right herbicide for the job.

The black ink line drawings by Regina O'Hughes, prepared from herbarium specimens, are exquisite in detail and scientific accuracy and are works of art, besides. The nearly 500 pages, drawings on right hand page (9 inches by nearly 7 inches), text and distribution map on left hand page, make this a comprehensive, yet easy to understand and use, reference book. First published in 1970 by the United States Department of Agriculture, this Dover republication book is a tremendous value for the money and its contents are as timely today as they were 30 years ago. These are the plants that Peterson Field Guides ignored. The book contains an extensive bibliography for those who want to further their study of these amazing plants. This book is definitely worth 5 stars!