Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast Paperback – December 6, 2004
Author: Jim Pojar ID: 1551055309
Review
I consider Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast to be a must-have for anyone who wants to know more about this area, as well as a great educational tool for kids. A handy field-guide, it will give the observer a fast way to look up and identify plants, shrubs, trees, mosses, ferns, lichens, and grasses. –The New Times, Seattle
About the Author
DR. JIM POJAR is executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Yukon chapter. He spent 25 years as an internationally respected forest ecology research scientist with the B.C. Forest Service. He is the author of numerous books and scientific papers related to the boreal forest, aspen parklands and coastal ecosystems.
ANDY MACKINNON is a respected biologist who serves as a technical advisor on old growth forest research to the B.C. Ministry of Forests. MacKinnon, also a registered professional forester, is adjunct professor at the School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University. He is the author of six Lone Pine books on the plants of Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.
Paperback: 528 pagesPublisher: Lone Pine; Revised edition (December 6, 2004)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1551055309ISBN-13: 978-1551055305 Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #11,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #3 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Plants > Trees #15 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Reference #16 in Books > Travel > United States > West > Pacific
This is simply the best field guide on any subject I have ever encountered. Photos are clear and often come in both full plant and detail perspectives; text is accurate, clear, well-written, and thorough; and the book is intuitively organized, providing easy-to-use keys, and a text-alongside-photo format that means less page flipping in the field. The cover is water-resistant, too! Packs an amazing number of plant species, including many bryophytes and lichens, as well as ferns and seed-bearing plants. Even covers many grasses! I live in California, and although many of the plants in this book don’t reach down to my area, it is still the first field guide I pick up when trying to key a plant, because I am almost sure to get the family here, and usually the genus as well. Once you have those, it’s much easier to cross-reference to your local species and varieties. If you didn’t love plants obsessively before, this book will make you want to start!
For anyone interested in Northwest Native Plants, this is an essential reference. Arthur Lee Jacobsen’s "Wild Plants of Greater Seattle" is another useful book, although not as detailed. "Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest", by Charles Leo Hitchcock, in 7 volumes for $300.00, is much more detailed but not as handy. I have used my "Pojar" so much that I wore it out and had to get a second copy. I found it useful when I was just beginning to learn about native plants, and now that I can identify over 200 species on sight, I still use it to learn about ethnobotany, which plants are edible, and where to plant them in my garden.
Another reviewer complained that the book does not list common names in the index. This is just plain wrong. You can look up plants in the index by common name or scientific name, or you can browse through the photos until you get a match. You can also use the keys, which is the best way to learn about the relationship of one species to another, but I’m usually too lazy to work through the process. The way the plants are grouped, it’s easy to narrow it down and find your plant.
My one complaint about the book is that it is sometimes difficult to pin down whether or not a particular plant is actually a native. This is usually implied, especially when they tell how indigenous peoples used the plants in everday life, but I wish the plants were clearly marked Native and Non-Native.
I used this book extensively in a field class this summer and it was extremely helpful. Everything I would possibly want to know about NW flora was included in detail (even with sketches of individual leaves). Also, the ethnographic information regarding the uses of various herbal medicines was fascinating.
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