Botany for Beginners

The purpose of this book is to help complete beginners to identify the wildflowers they might find when out for a walk. It covers the most common British wildflowers.While maintaining botanical accuracy, it avoids the usual convention of botanical order and has been compiled with the plants in colour sections. This makes it much easier to use and with just 250 species it is less daunting than trying to learn everything at once.The book is illustrated throughout. The first section includes clear line drawings showing parts of a flower, flower forms as well as leaf details. The comprehensive text for each species is accompanied by at least one colour photograph. The images show the important features of each wildflower in order to aid identification. Where a species might be difficult to differentiate from another, the key characteristics are written in italics to avoid confusion. Flowering times and usual habitats are also included as well as interesting information about uses of some of the plants in the past.· Wildflowers divided into colour sections for ease of use· Simple introduction to plant families aids the identification of particular species· Fully illustrated with over 500 colour photographs and line drawings· Author has a wealth of experience introducing plant identification to beginners of all ages

Carol Wilson was born and brought up in North Yorkshire. After teacher training at Alnwick she moved to Norfolk where she taught and raised her family. Her own children’s interest in the natural world led her to join the Norfolk Wildlife Trust in order to learn more about the British flora. Thus began a lifelong love of wildflowers.Returning to the north to take up the headship of a village primary school, she ran a botany club for the older children. On retirement she continued to study botany and subsequently wrote a flora of the moorland parish where she lives. During the pandemic she taught herself to identify local deciduous trees by their winter twigs. She continues to run classes for beginner botanists of all ages as well as leading Zoom sessions on plant identification and is involved in two wildflower recovery projects.