Plant and tree ID books?

Hi Thomas, thanks for taking the time to not only share your knowledge but to go so much further and put it into a published book! There's nothing like the feel of a book filled with knowledge being in one's hand.

As far as my question goes, do you have any other plant or tree ID books that you highly recommend? Being a professional arborist I have a decent number of tree specific books as well as The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden to start my wildcrafting/foraging library.

I must have had this book for 8-10 years, it was instrumental in teaching scouts wild plant concepts though I did have one I leaned on for the local region. It taught me to be more confident in what I was seeing even if it wasn't the plant I wanted.

http://www.amazon.com/Plants-The-Pacific-Northwest-Coast/dp/1551055309# was perfect for our region but Elpels concepts of identifiying plants was far superior for me if I didn't feel comfortable teaching it to kids. Now that it's brought up again I think I really need to revisit it. Thanks!

- Edit- Micheal the book I linked might work for you in the Mount Shasta area, if you see Oregon Grape, Salal, Salmon berry or any kind of huckleberry it should be valid. We're in 8 too.

Michael,

From the sounds of it, you are in northern California?

I also recommend John Kallas' book, Wild Edible Plants: From Dirt to Plate:
http://wildfoodadventures.com/ediblewildplantsdirtplate.html

And for the mountain country, my newest book, Foraging the Mountain West:
http://www.hopspress.com/Books/Foraging_The_Mountain_West.htm

And I would second Rick's endorsement for Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Elpel
http://www.GreenUniversity.com

Rick - That looks like a great book, I'll definitely be adding it to my collection soon. I lived in Astoria for a few years doing tree care after a big storm so I became pretty familiar with all the plants you listed. Where I live now is kind of a transition zone between the Californian Mediterranean climate and the more rain influenced PNW climate with a big volcano thrown in the mix to give lots of different micro-climates. Good chances of finding Oregon Grape here, a huckleberry or two in the right area but I haven't noticed salal or salmonberry around.

Thomas - Yeah, there's not many populated areas north of me in California. I have a feeling I'll be spending a good amount of time with that Foraging The Mountain West book, it looks like it's right up my alley. I have to admit that I hadn't heard of your books but if I'm not lucky enough to get one of the 4 books up for grab for us lucky forum readers I'll be shelling out the $ to grab a copy of my own. Thank you again for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Thomas Elpel wrote:
I also recommend John Kallas' book, Wild Edible Plants: From Dirt to Plate:
http://wildfoodadventures.com/ediblewildplantsdirtplate.html

John's book is exceptional, I should have thought of it first as I've taken many of his classes, including acorns in the last month or so.

Hollowtop! I found your site a few years back, I'm looking forward to checking out your books!