Philadelphia Trees: A Field Guide to the City and the Surrounding Delaware Valley

Philadelphia Trees is a pocket-sized resource for identifying the native trees, commonly encountered exotics, and popular ornamentals of the Philadelphia metropolitan area and adjacent counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Each of the 118 tree-identification entries features a description of a tree species or several related species; a list of places to see specimens; individual photos of leaves, bark, fruits, and seeds; striking portrait photos; and winter-silhouette drawings.

The guide also contains a section on more than fifty of the best parks, botanical gardens, and preserves for viewing trees in and around Philadelphia. Included in this section are ten maps identifying specific trees in such places as Fairmount Park, one of the world’s largest urban parks, and the Morris Arboretum, the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A third section, “Great Trees of Philadelphia,” highlights fifty special, historic, and record-breaking trees. Using this field guide, nature lovers will be able to identify and locate the fantastic trees that this unique region, sometimes called “the cradle of American horticulture,” has to offer.

Paul W. Meyer is director emeritus of the Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania.

Catriona Briger has a master's degree in landscape architecture and currently freelances in Philadelphia as a designer, editor, and writer.

Edward Sibley Barnard is an editor and an author of several books on natural history, including Central Park Trees and Landscapes: A Guide to New York City's Masterpiece and New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan
Area.