Weeds of the Northeast - Softcover

Richard H. Uva; Joseph C. Neal; Joseph M. DiTomaso

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801483344 ISBN 13: 9780801483349

Publisher: Comstock Publishing Associates, 1997

Synopsis

Here, at last, is a lavishly illustrated manual for ready identification of 299 common and economically important weeds in the region south to Virginia, north to Maine and southern Canada, and west to Wisconsin. Based on vegetative rather than floral characteristics, this practical guide gives anyone who works with plants the ability to identify weeds before they flower.

• A dichotomous key to all the species described in the book is designed to narrow the choices to a few possible species. Identification can then be confirmed by reading the descriptions of the species and comparing a specimen with the drawings and photographs.
• A fold-out grass identification table provides diagnostic information for weedy grasses in an easy-to-use tabular key.
• Specimens with unusual vegetative characteristics, such as thorns, square stems, whorled leaves, or milky sap, can be rapidly identified using the shortcut identification table.

The first comprehensive weed identification manual available for the Northeast, this book will facilitate appropriate weed management strategy in any horticultural or agronomic cropping system and will also serve home gardeners and landscape managers, as well as pest management specialists and allergists.

About this title

Review

"Knowing your opponents is the first step in weed prevention. Weeds of the Northeast is businesslike and well photographed?a useful tool for the conscientious gardener."

(Barbara Damrosch, author of The Garden Primer)

"Weeds of the Northeast is the first comprehensive weed identification manual available for the northeastern region of the U.S.... The manual will facilitate appropriate weed management strategies in horticultural or agronomic cropping systems and will also serve home gardeners, landscape managers, pest management specialists, and allergist."

"The appeal of Weeds of the Northeast is broad, ranging from home gardeners to professional gold course managers to farmers. The book deserves a slot in the reference library."

"I highly recommend Weeds of the Northeast if you ever happen to be in a masochistic mood and don't have a sharp stick handy with which to poke yourself in the eye. As I leafed through the pages, wincing at the depressingly clear color photographs, a horrible sense of familiarity set in. Ninety-nine percent of the weeds were in my garden. It was like looking at a family album of all your least favorite relatives. There was mean and scary Great-Aunt Margaret (Scotch thistle); passive-aggressive Cousin Isobel with the mustache (hairy bittercress); Uncle Ralph with the drinking problem and disgusting table manners (prostrate pigweed). Despite the feeling of nausea that gripped me, I was able to gather much useful information of a scientific sort. As Nietzsche said, that which doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and so I suppose my encounter with an army of unnaturally über-weeds could be looked at as an exercise in character-building."

(Horticulture, Jan/Feb 2005)

"This detailed and user-friendly guide identifies nearly 300 weedy plant species commonly found from southeastern Canada south to Virginia and west to Wisconsin. Sharp color photographs illustrate each plant in seed, seedling, and mature stages. In addition, plants can be readily distinguished using an identification key based on vegetative characteristics such as leaf orientation, leaf shape, and presence or absence of hairs. A handy fold-out chart helps with identification of those tricky grasses. Weeds that can be identified easily by characteristics such as thorns or milky sap are listed in a series of 'shortcut' tables."

"This is a thorough and well-designed book that's been needed for a long time. The system of having both drawings and photographs accompanying the description of each plant will be of great help to amateur gardeners as well as to professional growers and horticulturists. The identification tables are also very useful."

(Elisabeth Sheldon, author of A Proper Garden: On Perennials in the Border)

"Lavishly illustrated and exceptionally well-done.... Here is a model to be emulated for California and other weedy areas of the United States and Canada."

"This impressive factual Weed Identification Manual, the first ever compiled of the Northeast, is thorough and well designed.... This is a distinctive book and reference guide on weeds, one that will be welcomed in a library, school, garden club, a gift for friends, and definitely a copy for yourself."

Edition details

• Publisher: Comstock Publishing Associates
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801483344
• ISBN 13: 9780801483349
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408