When I picked up Newcomb's Wildflower Guide from the library, I didn't have a clue how to identify flowers using a book, and I was afraid I would be in over my head. I shouldn't have been worried: Newcomb's wildflower categorization is easy to pick up on, using readily understood visual cues like the number of petals on a flower, flower color, and leaf type. I was able to identify almost every flower I was trying to name, and I'm as amateur as it gets.

Using this guide is infinitely faster and less frustrating than trying to figure out flower names online, and the illustrations are very well-done and helpful. I do wish more illustrations had been in color, but the black-and-white drawings are still effective. ( )

This would be the one wildflower guide that I recommenend to beginners. The system he uses is easier than most and geared toward the amateur field botanist. ( )

One of the best laid out field books or guidebooks you will ever see. Too bad I don't care that much and have one for a college field trip that was concurrent with a much more interesting Geology of Northern Michigan class. Still worth having just in case I ever care to decipher a specific violet out in the woods. Assuming I have it with me at the time, which is unlikely. ( )

A well designed, easy to use field guide, including a key, which makes it much more useful for definitive identifications. ( )

Difficult to use without an understanding of flower construction and the flower is in hand. not for beginners. Howerver the book includes shrubs and vines and is worth having for this alone. ( )