Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alaska

I was tempted to give this book a four star rating because I, so far, have found very few of the plants I've looked for in this book, but that wouldn't be fair to this well written book. The problem is that I live in eastern Washington and this book is about plants of the Pacific Northwest coast. Even though I camp and hike the Cascades quite often I still have some trouble finding what I'm looking for in this book. I've never seen so many plants in one book I can't find. But because this book is so well laid out, with so much excellent information, and so many excellent photos of so many different kinds of plants (and even trees) I have to give it five stars.Even though this book is a chunk (I'm guessing about two pounds) I still can't help but take it with me on my excursions even when weight is a major factor. That's how well done this book is; the photos and information on every plant are unsurpassed. So, if you live, camp or hike on the Coast of the Pacific Northwest and want to know more about the plants around you I don't see not owning this book. I live on the east side of the State and I don't see not owning this book. I think it's a five star book for the novice (which I am) as well as the experienced forager (which I'm becoming, and I've heard experienced foragers praise this book. One held this book up and said "this is one of the best books you could own" and I thought, hey, I have that book). Call me crazy, but this book stays in my pack.

This book is a must have for any PNW plant enthusiast. It's comprehensive, complete, easy to use and can stand the wet conditions of any hike.

My husband wanted this book and I can see why. Great information for the future.

Sprinkled with cultural/historical facts about the plants that remind us why we should appreciate them, and in a pleasing fashion. Used as a textbook at my college and well worth it. Newcomers to the region will especially enjoy the way it is set up so they can crash course through specific areas like the cedars, wetlands plants, and of course, the 'other' category. My instructor was always telling us, 'Do you have your POJAR?" on field trips. Worth keeping around. Noticed recently that the text in some pages are being quoted (unsourced and not cited) in online blogs about PNW plants.

This book is very helpful if you know what you're looking at. There are keys to plants within families, but there isn't necessarily a key to the families themselves. So for example, if you look at an unidentified specimen and know that it is a lily, then you can flip to page 99 where there is a key for the plants commonly found within the lily family. Although if you were to find a specimen and not know what family it was in, then you might end up flipping through the book looking for similar plants or anything to signal that plant was in a particular family. It isn't a big deal if you're familiar with common families, but if not this could be a bit frustrating. They do have a page of small representative silhouettes of the families you can compare with, but that's about it.The pictures in this book are great, most of them focus not only on the flowers but the foliage as well, which makes it easier to identify plants when they aren't in bloom. The photos are in color and have multiple angles in many cases. While the book mainly focuses on herbaceous flowering plants, there are sections for trees, shrubs, ferns, aquatics, and other oddball plants.I would highly suggest this book for people looking to expand their knowledge on local plants, as this not only includes the photo and scientific/common names, but a general information section about each plant. It lets the reader know if the plant is poisonous (and how poisonous), if it's rare/protected, invasive, etc. The waterproof cover makes it great for students studying in the field, and the brief introduction has valuable and interesting information.

I purchased this field guide to assist me in finding edible wild plants. Well, it does that and much much more. All those blasted plants I can't find in any other book are here, and it's nice to know how they were used by the native americans in some cases. Obviously this book was not published as a wild foods guide, and for that reason it should never be your only guide if your using it as such. Having said that, there are so many plants in here that can't be found in any wild foods guide on the market. Plus the book will tell you if something is toxic, what or if it can be used for something outside of being a food source, and most wild food guides just don't do that. I highly recommend this book to all people living in the pacific northwest. You should have some idea of what is around you just in case. Plus, even if you have next to no interest in plant life I can next to guarantee you'll find this book at least interesting enough to keep as bathroom reading. Yes, this book is good enough to grab the interest of someone who has no interest in the subject.

Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Washington, Oregon, British Columbia & Alaska was originally published in 1994 and has been updated in 2014. This is the go-to reference for plants of the Pacific Northwest. The Introduction contains a section on Plants in aboriginal technology; and Plants as medicine. Trees, Shrubs, Wildflowers, Aquatics, Grass, Ferns, Mosses & Liverworts and Lichens are the main groups to which the plants are placed. There is a Glossary and Index at the end of the book. The books is filled with full-color drawings, photos, maps, as well as black and white illustrations of leaf shapes, tree shapes, parts of the flower etc. Information for example: Douglas Fir, includes general information, leaf, cone, ecology, as well as detailed notes on the use by native people as well as how it was named. A must-have for all Pacific Northwest outdoor lovers, campers, gardeners, hikers, crafters, and school libraries.

boy is this the book for you.

I is avery informative book and it arrived one day after i ordered it

This has turned into an excellent reference I take with me out in the field regularly. Full of pictures, diagrams and notes on edibility, medicinal use, ecology, leaf-flower-fruit descriptions and helpful additional notes. It now travels with me regularly into the bush as well as when landscaping. Definitely a great reference and certainly worthy of the praise found in the reviews here.

No better book on the market. I use it extensively for identifying alpine flowers. It is really too big to backpack into mountains, especially on long overnight treks. So I tend to photograph the plants and flowers in the field and do a further identification when I get home. Digital photography makes this so easy. The book's photos are of very high quality greatly facilitating the identification. Plus one gets to learn about how the native population used the plants. The keys are just excellent in helping identification.

This book is very thurough! I'm totally a beginner to this but the information is really useful with detailed descriptions of the look of the plant, what landscape conditions you can find it in, and even a map of where they are found. It will tell you if the plant is edible/poisonous or has medicinal purposes and the pictures and line drawings are very clear and well done. This book was a great investment!

This is a beautiful well organized book. I haven't had it very long but what I have read so far seems well thought out and information seems thorough.