John Kircher

Books: Science | Botany

A Field Guide to Eastern Forests: North America (1988) John Kircher and Gordon Morrison

A long time ago, way back when I was in college, I studied Biology with a focus on plants. Because I love plants. I think they're fascinating. When we had apartments, I always had houseplants, and once we had our own home, one of the first things I did was to plant perennial flowers and shrubs all around.

And of course when we travel, one of the things I love to do is visit botanical gardens and hike through forests and look at (and take pictures of) the local flora.

But recently I realized that I'd forgotten a LOT of what I learned in college. My identification skills are horrible, and I found that I couldn't remember the different geographical areas as they relate to plants. (In my defense, my plant geography class was after lunch, and taught by a professor who spoke in a monotone and gave regular slide shows. I don't think anyone stayed awake through it all.)

So, I started picking up regional plant books when I travel, to hopefully remind myself of all the things I'd forgotten.

Then I realized I had books on plants in Alaska, and the Rocky Mountains, but not my own forests. Which is rather silly. Which is how I ended up with the Peterson Field Guide. So I love this book? No. I have to say I much prefer the wester field guides published by Lone Pine. But it's not horrible, and it's slowly reminding me of all the things I've forgotten.

Published by Houghton Mifflin