Plants of Arizona

Great book- I enjoyed the wide variety of plants- however, I felt that it mainly included flowers more than shrubs, plants, and trees like I expected there would be. I wished there were more pictures of the foliage rather than blooms on certain plants, as to better identify them when they are not in bloom.

I live in Arizona and have always wanted a bit more education on our native plants. I spend a lot of time camping and hiking all over the state, but I found this book somewhat disappointing. It has little or no competition on this subject, but other than compiling the information and taking a lot of close up photos, as a field guide this book leaves a lot to be desired. All the photos are close ups of the plant's flowers, which only happens for short periods of the year and doesn't give you a very good overall view of the plant. The book is divided into sections by flower color, but I think it should then be subdivided by elevation or county or habitat of some sort because it is almost impossible to find the plant you are looking at from a close up of the flower. A good example would be the Ironwood tree in this book. The book describes the tree as up to 30 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 1 & half inches. I'm sure that's a misprint as I've seen Ironwoods with a trunk up to a foot in diameter and probably larger ones exist, but from the close up picture of the flower you would probably never identify this tree as you would see it in it's native habitat. I'm sure this book was a massive amount of work and it helps, but it needs to be laid out in a more helpful way with better pictures of the actual plant, not just the flowers.

A great book for looking up plants you see along trails, highways and in parks. An essential for anyone new to Arizona.

I pre-ordered this book with anticipation. A book from our dear local trail-blazer Anne Epple?! Count me in! Finally, I thought, a book that would allow me to see what the heck that new, strange weed in my backyard is. Not having to riffle through dozens and dozens of general desert plants only to find half the flora and fauna I want to see is not in the book at all.When my book arrived, naturally I tore the package open and started to shuffle through the pictures for familiar leaves and stems.....But only saw flower faces. Lots and lot of flowers... -_-The pictures are taken in sunset light with enhancement, ruining the coloration and making it look dark and moody. The majority of images are centered on the flowers of the plants, which anyone who lives in the desert knows only last for a few days or weeks if they are hardy. One image per plant made me sigh, and to top it off, some images didn't show much if any of the leaves and stems, the important parts required for us novices to identify a plant when it ISN'T in bloom.I will gladly and loyally pre-order once more for Mrs. Epple, if she remakes the book again (hopefully with a different publisher). But I hope in the next issue she insists there be images of the plants in the daytime as you'd see them if you leaned down while walking along (in full so you can see the growth of the limbs and leaves and make out their patterns) and with pictures of blooms as smaller images to the side instead of front and center. I believe in you still Mrs. Epple!In the meantime, sadly, I'll continue to reference to my old, steady "Weeds of the West" and hope for another attempt on Arizona vegetation in the future.

Fabulous guide to hundreds of Arizona plants of all types. Good photos are a great help with identification. It's a little heavy for carrying on a casual hike, but well worth it for me.

Seems to be a good book, however, a lot of the photos have dark background, think would have been better with a lighter color.

I liked the book very much but I still did not get enough data to identify many of the plants in my photos.

I bought it for a wildflower ID class and was taught how to use it. Living in Arizonia I can use it as I travel around the state.