Complete Trees of North America: Field Guide and Natural History

Finally someone has reprinted this essential tree ID, natural history guide. I have the 1987 edition and find it indespensible as a Certified Arborist. The range maps are especially helpful. I am buying the present addition as a gift for a Landscape Architect.

I have many books on identifying trees and I return to this book time and again. I have bought this book as a gift for tree lover friends twice.It's method of identifiing is very user friendly. Color picture books are nice, but many times I feel that I need more, this book will give it to you. Great book!

Within the pages of this volume you'll find 725 entries for all known native and introduced species of trees within North America. The book even mentions some hybrid and ornamental varieties you might not find in other guides. A tree common to southern Arizona, the Casuarina, or Australian Pine, was difficult to identify using other field guides, but this book contained quite a bit of information about it. Along with each tree description, the author has included a short narrative on the history and use of the tree; that's more than the average field guide can offer. Since this book is nearly two inches thick, one would be smart to pair this book with a more pocketable guide (such as Golden's "Trees of North America - A Guide to Field Identification," one of which I am personally quite fond.) The only drawback to this book is that all illustrations are in black and white, another reason to purchase a field guide with color illustrations to go with this more exhaustive work.

Within the pages of this volume you'll find 725 entries for all known native and introduced species of trees within North America. The book even mentions some hybrid and ornamental varieties you might not find in other guides. A tree common to southern Arizona, the Casuarina, or Australian Pine, was difficult to identify using other field guides, but this book contained quite a bit of information about it. Along with each tree description, the author has included a short narrative on the history and use of the tree; that's more than the average field guide can offer. Since this book is nearly two inches thick, one would be smart to pair this book with a more pocketable guide (such as Golden's "Trees of North America - A Guide to Field Identification," one of which I am personally quite fond.) The only drawback to this book is that all illustrations are in black and white, another reason to purchase a field guide with color illustrations to go with this more exhaustive work.

This book is a fabulous help for identifying, choosing and learning about trees. The illustrations are simple and to the point, and there is a lot of background information on each tree. Appearance is described with illustrations for different seasons.