The Wild Flower Key: A Guide to Plant Identification in the Field - With or Without Flowers | Perfect for Botanists, Hikers & Nature Enthusiasts

This is one of the handiest illustrated field guides ever produced and about the best available for British flowering plants. It covers all native and long-naturalised flowering plants of the British Isles except for grasses, sedges and rushes. It also includes the commoner plants of NW Europe. That adds up to 1450 species covered, 1400+ fully described and 1000+ illustrated. 48 page general key to families and 47 pages of vegetative keys by habitat. The succinct text is set opposite the illustrations, so that all information on a species is found on a single page spread. The illustrations are simple, clear, detailed and ideally suited to plant identification. This is a book that has given me hundreds of hours of pleasure in the field and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the new edition. The only other similar guide to the British flora would be Blamey, Fitter & Fitter's "Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland". At the end of the day, the choice comes down to personal preference as both guides are authoritative.