Field Guide to the Common Weeds of Kansas

This handbook illustrates and describes the 200 kinds of common weeds found in Kansas along roadsides and in yards, gardens, and cultivated fields. Designed as a reference for the general reader with no special training in botany, it will be of value to farmers, ranchers, gardeners, or anyone who must control weeds.

A detailed line drawing of the plant and a distribution map is provided for each species. The description lists its common and scientific names and includes information on the plant's typical size, stem, leaves, flowers, particular arrangement of flowers, and habitat. Useful commentary about the weed—such as whether it is poisonous to livestock—is also given. The book includes a glossary of botanical terms and an index of plant names.

A handy system of "finding lists" enable the user, working with only three or fewer structural features of a plant, to arrive at easy, on-the-spot identification of an unknown weed.

T. M. Barkley is curator of the herbarium and professor of botany at Kansas State University and taxonomist at the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. He is editor of the Great Plains Flora Association's Atlas of the Flora of the Great Plains.