Plant Families How To Know Them

“Plant Families – How To Know Them” is a 1948 guide to identifying plants by H. E. Jaques. It aims to teach the reader how to readily attribute any and every plant they see to its proper family, as well as to provide them with a general understanding of the characteristics of said family of trees. This accessible and profusely-illustrated guide will appeal to nature lovers and is not to be missed by those with a keen interest in gardening. Contents include: “Some Plant Facts”, “A List of Reference Books”, “How to Use the Keys”, “Pictured-Keys for Identification of the Families of Plants”, “Algae”, “Lichens”, “Mosses and Liverworts”, “Ferns”, “Flowering Plants”, “A List of the Families of Plants in Their Logical Order”, and “Index and Illustrated Glossary”. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on the history of gardening.

Explains the patterns method of plant identification, describing eight key patterns for recognizing more than 45,000 species of plants, and includes an illustrated reference guide to plant families.

Plant Families is an easy-to-use, beautifully illustrated guide to the more than seventy core plant families every horticulturist, gardener, or budding botanist needs to know. It introduces the basics of plant genealogy and teaches readers how to identify and understand the different structures of flowers, trees, herbs, shrubs, and bulbs. It then walks through each family, explaining its origins and range and describing characteristics such as size, flowers, and seeds. Each family is accompanied by full-color botanical illustrations and diagrams. "Uses For" boxes planted throughout the book provide practical gardening tips related to each family. By understanding how botanists create these groupings, we can become more apt at spotting the unique characteristics of a plant and identifying it faster and more accurately. Understanding plant families also helps us to make sense of- and better appreciate- the enormous biological diversity of the plant kingdom.