Steve W. Chadde. A Great Lakes Wetland Flora. PocketFlora Press. 2002.

This book serves my home State of Michigan along with the rest of the “Upper Midwest”. It was written by a plant ecologist residing in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The author has written several other plant id books.

I was really excited to find a book on the wetland flora of this region of the United States. According to the back cover, “A Great Lakes wetland flora is the only field guide to all the plants found in the wetland and aquatic habitats of the Great Lakes region.” In my humble opinion, it meets this goal.

The book includes an introduction that seeks to explain more about wetlands before beginning to describe the plants family by family. The information provided is professionally written with appropriate black and white line drawings and a key to the various plants in each plant genus. The author also included several valuable appendices including a glossary, list of abbreviations, wetland indicator status, and a listing of plants for different purposes.

Recommendation

I read through this book eagerly. As mentioned earlier, the information was thorough. In my humble opinion, there is a major flaw in this book. The lack of colored photographs or drawings would make it very difficult for the average visitor to a wetlands area to use it for identifying the plants he/she is viewing. Frankly, I am disappointed and would not recommend this to the hobbyist naturalist. It is quite suitable for professional wetland managers and ecologists.

Since the information in this book is extremely valuable for both hobbyist naturalists and for today’s gardeners, I would suggest the publisher consider an updated version which includes a colored photograph section showing at least one sample plant from each family and/or genus. This change could easily its market to gardeners. Water features including artificial streams and bogs are becoming popular with gardeners of all ages.

I realize the cost of printing in color is high. However, today’s readers are accustomed to finding colored photographs and drawings in field guides of this nature. Adding this feature and breaking the book down State by State would both limit the size and weight of the book and the resulting price thus creating a valuable set of books for the general public.

I sincerely hope the publisher considers these suggestions and moves towards creating a valuable set of field guides for today’s naturalists and gardeners. The publisher’s emphasis on quality is clear. Making changes to expand its market would benefit both the author and the publisher.