Berry Finder: Identifying Native Plants with Fleshy Fruits in Eastern North America (Nature Study Guides)

Miller, Dorcas S.

ISBN 10: 091255052X ISBN 13: 9780912550527

Publisher: Nature Study Guild, 2024

Synopsis

Identify wild berries and fruits in eastern North America with this pocket-size guide.

If you’re fascinated by native plants or the practice of foraging, then learning to identify berries and fruits is essential. While this is not a guide to edible plants, Berry Finder by Dorcas S. Miller is a great tool for getting started with plant identification. This handy, easy-to-use booklet can help you identify native plants with fleshy fruit in the eastern half of North America.

The booklet provides a dichotomous key to identifying ripe berries and berry-like fruits. Simply answer a series of simple questions about the plant type, leaf pattern, leaf margin, and fruit color. Along the way, professional illustrations by Cherie Hunter Day help to guide you to a positive identification.

Book Features:

• Step-by-step guide to identifying wild berries and fruits
• More than 180 species of plants, shrubs, and trees
• Professional line illustrations with key markings for identification
• Small format that fits into a pocket or pack

This guide is applicable to eastern Canada and the US states of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and parts of Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

About this title

About the Author

Dorcas S. Miller, founding president of the Maine Master Naturalist Program, has written more than a dozen books, including Berry Finder, Constellation Finder, Scat Finder, Track Finder, and Winter Weed Finder. Her Finder books have sold more than half a million copies.

Cherie Hunter Day is a writer and an illustrator. An award-winning haiku and tanka poet, Cherie is the author of Apology Moon and The Horse with One Blue Eye, as well as the editor of Mariposa, the journal of the Haiku Poets of Northern California. Her nature illustrations have appeared in such books as Berry Finder and Track Finder.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Start Here

This book will help you identify plants with fleshy fruit or colorful but dry fruit in the shape of a berry, drupe, multiple, or other form.

To use the book, start by reviewing p. 1–3.

When examining your plant, note the color and form of the mature fruit, as well as the position and shape of the leaves.

Go to the entry key on p. 4, make a choice, and go on from there. At the section keys, consider all the factors—margin of leaf, fruit color, position of fruit, height, range, and other clues.

Names: This book uses scientific and common names from the database of the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. If you prefer a different name, feel free to add it in the margin.

Color describes the mature fruit. Most unripe fruit is green or white, and it may turn several colors before maturing.

Range: If a species is found in one part of a state, the entire state is included.

Edition details

• Publisher: Nature Study Guild
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 091255052X
• ISBN 13: 9780912550527
• Binding: Staple Bound
• Illustrator: Day Cherie Hunter
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 64