Britain's Ferns


Book Description

The only comprehensive photographic guide to the ferns, clubmosses, quillworts and horsetails of Britain This is a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated and user-friendly photographic identification guide to the fifty-seven ferns and seventeen other pteridophytes that occur in Britain. It is the perfect companion for botanists, naturalists, professional ecologists and anyone else with an interest in this fascinating group of non-flowering vascular plants. Designed to appeal to beginners and experts alike, this authoritative book includes novel identification keys and comparison tables that have been carefully devised to present only essential, easily understood technical terms and descriptions, avoiding jargon as much as possible. Cross-referenced throughout to facilitate the comparison of similar species, this definitive field guide is the go-to source for identifying these species with confidence. Features hundreds of stunning colour photographs Comprehensive coverage of Britain's 57 species of ferns, 6 clubmosses, 3 quillworts and 8 horsetails Includes novel, easy-to-use, jargon-free identification keys and comparison tables Beautifully designed, user-friendly and accessible




The Fern Guide


Book Description




The Plant Lover's Guide to Ferns


Book Description

Ferns are easy to grow and readily available in big box stores, garden centers, and mail-order nurseries, making them a popular ornamental among new and advanced gardeners. Perfect for containers, borders, layered gardens, foliage accents, and shady areas, ferns come in a range of colors and varieties. The Plant Lover’s Guide to Ferns, by fern enthusiasts Richie Steffen and Sue Olsen, is packed with information on these reliable plants. The book includes profiles for 134 plants, with information on growth and propagation, advice on using ferns in garden design, and lists of where to buy the plants and where to view them in public gardens.




Collins Flower Guide


Book Description

Featuring all flowering plants, including trees, grasses, and ferns, this brand-new field guide to the flowers of Britain and northern Europe is the most complete illustrated, single-volume guide ever published. Leading botanical artists have been specially commissioned to ensure accurate, detailed illustrations. Species are described and illustrated on the same page, with up-to-date authoritative text aiding identification. Plants are arranged by family, with their key features highlighted for quick and easy reference. The text offers a complete account of more than 1,900 wild flowers of Britain and Ireland, along with a summary of their European distribution.Collins Flower Guideis an indispensable guide for all those with an interest in the countryside, whether amateur or expert.




Wayside and Woodland Ferns


Book Description

Excerpt from Wayside and Woodland Ferns: A Pocket Guide to the British Ferns, Horsetails and Club-Mosses There are few it any departments of Nature-lore upon which so many volumes have been published during fifty years as have been produced dealing with our native Ferns - some good, some indifferent, others bad. Why, it may be asked, add another to a sufficiently long list? I have no particular defence to offer, except to say that many readers of the "Wayside and Woodland Series" demanded such a handy volume, and the publishers regarded the demand as a reasonable one. No doubt the publishers would also say there are points in the production of this work that fully justify its appearance: such as the handy pocket size, and the novel plan of giving not only a drawing in colour of each species, but also a photographic representation of most of the plants growing amid their natural surroundings. In a word, it is a book for the Nature-lover, not the Nature-destroyer for whom most Fern-books have been written hitherto. For that reason only the facts of general distribution so far as the British Islands are concerned are given. Such data are sufficient to enable the intelligent Nature-lover to get on the track of the good things he desires to see growing wild; but the way is not made too plain and easy for the exterminator, from whom the country has suffered so grievously. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.




Britain's Spiders


Book Description

A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year Now in a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, Britain’s Spiders is a guide to all 38 of the British families, focussing on spiders that can be identified in the field. Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group, combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 404 species—all of Britain’s “macro” spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. This new edition includes nine species new to Britain, many recent name changes, updated distribution maps and species information, new guides to help identify spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist. A guide to spider families, based on features recognizable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacs Detailed accounts and more than 700 stunning photographs highlight key identification features for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitats Up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonality Introductory chapters on the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the field A complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation status Information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further New to this edition: coverage of nine species new to Britain, updated species information and distribution maps, identification guides to spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist




The Victorian Fern Craze


Book Description

Fern Fever (or Pteridomania, to give it its official name), hit Britain between 1837 and 1914 and peaked between 1840 and 1890. Although in previous centuries ferns played an important role in customs and folklore, it was only in this period that they were coveted for aesthetic reasons and that man's passion for them reached its zenith. The craze for collecting ferns reached such epidemic proportions that it affected the very existence of some species. The fern craze started to gather momentum in the 1840s; books and magazines maintained that fern growing was a hobby that anyone could enjoy as ferns would grow in the glazed fernery, garden, shady yard, window box or even indoors in Wardian Cases. The mania also spread from the living plant to depicting it in architecture and the decorative arts. Even roads, villas and terraced houses were named after the fern. This book, the first to deal exclusively with the subject for nearly forty years, looks at the how the craze developed, the ways in which ferns were incorporated into garden and home, and the spread of the fern through Victorian material and visual culture.




Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland


Book Description

Third edition of the most comprehensive and authoritative guide to the larger moths of Great Britain and Ireland. This latest edition of the Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland has been fully revised, updated and restructured, bringing it in line with the latest thinking in taxonomy. Moths are illustrated in their natural resting postures, and there are also paintings of different forms, underwings and other details to help with identification. New descriptions and illustrations have been included for species that have been newly recorded in Britain and Ireland since the last edition of the guide was published. The text descriptions of all other species – covering field characters and similar species, flight season, life cycle, larval foodplants, and habitat – have been revised and updated where necessary, and particular attention has been paid to updating the distribution information, which is now supported by maps. The revised general introduction explains how the methods of identifying and recording moths have evolved over recent years with the advent of new technologies and as a result of data analysis.




Britain's Orchids


Book Description

An accessible, comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide--the only one to cover all the orchids found in Britain and Ireland Covering more than fifty species as well as hybrids and variants, this is an engaging, intuitive and in-depth identification guide to all the orchids of Britain and Ireland at all stages of development, from first emergence through to setting seed. Drawing on the authors' extensive field experience and the latest scientific research, Britain's Orchids uses multiple techniques to help both beginner and more advanced orchid enthusiasts to identify even the trickiest plants. The book is beautifully illustrated with plates by talented artist Sarah Stribbling as well as more than 1,000 detailed, instructive and evocative photographs by the authors. Orchids have long fired the imagination with their beauty and rarity. This book aims to ignite or increase your passion for these special plants and for the conservation of their habitats, from remote mountaintops to urban wild spaces. The first book to cover all the species, subspecies and varieties, as well as hybrids, at all stages of development Lavishly illustrated with close to 100 stunning plates drawn to scale to show key identification features and more than 1,000 stunning photo showing orchids in their natural settings Simple, step-by-step system for identifying almost any orchid Up-to-date distribution maps and seasonal charts showing when each species can be seen in its various stages Special-feature identification keys that can be used on difficult plants