A good book on trees?

[Joints]

Hi all,

I am currently looking for a good book to help me identify trees.

Im looking for one that would have a nice photo or drawing of a tree, a little blurb on it and possibly a photo or piece of its veneer.

does anyone know a good title?

 

[tommy]

For wood identification try 'What wood is that' by Herbert Eldin. It comes with a little book of veneer samples in the back. He's a fantastic author who worked for the forestry commission from around the 1940's: a time when timber was a very important engineering and building material and his book are written with that in mind. Another good one by him is 'British Woodland Trees'.

The best book I've got for actually identifying trees is a kids book called 'The Nature Detective Series - Trees Throughout The Year'! It's got a really good section on winter buds and leaves, a really good starting point for identifying trees. Don't be too tempted by glossy photos, often back and white sketches are much easier to identify by.

Tommy.

 

[nimmaj]

Hello,

I've got this one which i have a sort of love/hate relationship with!

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/97 ... Tree-Guide

I know it's got european trees in there too but you'd be surprised what's been planted around and about!

HTH

Ben

 

[Sgian Dubh]

It's out of print, but see if you find a secondhand copy of the The Tree Key, again by Herbert Edlin (1978) as another poster mentioned, ISBN 0723220352. It's a small paperback so handy for slipping into a pocket.

Another useful one, but much larger, ie 11-3/4" X 9", and also likely out of print is Trees in Britain, Europe and North America, Roger Phillips, (1978) ISBN 0330254804.

Lastly, Trees: an illustrated indentifier and encyclopedia, Russell, T and Cutler, C, pub 2003, Hermes House, ISBN 1843099756. This too is quite big, not handy pocket size. Slainte.

 

[Joints]

Thanks guys. Ill try and get the girlfriend to buy one seeing as I almost crashed the car the other day after an interesting tree caught my gaze!

Hmmm tree's . ...

 

[Digit]

Welcome to the wonderful world of trees Joints, now you'll stop seeing 'trees' and start seeing Ash, Oak, Hawthorthorn etc, and your driving will become even riskier! :lol:

Roy.

 

[Joints]

If I can get to through the next 4 months with no claims, it will be a miracle!

 

[Digit]

I was on my motor bike, staring at a hawking Kestrel, when I suddenly realised that I was on the entry to a roundabout.
I was close to the r/h kerb in all the gravel with no chance of getting round. I stamped on the rear brake, the back end trotted out and hit the kerb, the bike came upright and I proceeded around the roundabout like I performed the trick everyday!! :lol:

Roy.

 

[Robert]

Trees in Britain, Europe and North America, Roger Philips, Sheila Grant etc. and "Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe" by Alan Mitchell are the two books I reference frequently. But I am a gardener and have a lot of trees to look after. They have good, different, illustrations of trees but beware of the ultimate sizes given. They can and do vary enormously in the wild. I use "What wood is that" but find wood identification books poor/confusing. It is tempting to build a reference collection but has the potential to become obsessive and a microscope (tool) is needed

 

[wizer]

I know what you mean, I can't pass a tree now without commenting on it's suitability for either turning or planking and whether or not it has burl....

 

[xy mosian]

On the timber identification. There have been descriptions of indentification methods using a 10x magnifying glass on end grain. Has anyone used a digital camera to photograph end grain and then enlarged to this scale using some image manipulation software?

 

[OPJ]

I know what you mean, I can't pass a tree now without commenting on it's suitability for either turning or planking and whether or not it has burl....

Have you been driving through America recently, Tom? Over here, we call them burrs!!