Books from Naturegraph Publishers, Inc.

Oaks of North America by Howard Miller and Samuel Lamb was first published in 1985. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only book just on Oaks. The book is divided into 3 parts. The first part, The Story of Oak, describes the uses of oaks in Europe and England, then in America. A discussion of Early lumber production, wildlife found in oak forests, and pets of oak trees follows. If you are interested in harvesting wood, the chapter on "Opportunities for Oak in Hardwood Management" should fascinate you.

Part 2 Discusses the taxonomy of oaks east of the 100th Meridian. You'll find two useful keys here: one for the growing season and one for identifying twigs in winter. An in-depth description including growth habit, bark, leaves, fruit, and twigs & buds is given for each oak species in this geographical region. Additional information such as other plants occurring with each species, uses of the species, and the type of soil each oak grows best in is also presented. I find each of the descriptions to be very comprehensive making this a very valuable field guide to the Oaks.

The third part discusses all the oaks west of the 100th meridian and also includes a key for the oaks of Mexico. The setup is the same as for Part 2, thus making this a very comprehensive field guide to the oaks of North America.

I find the pictures in this book to be particularly valuable because, although they are black and white, they appear to be photographs of actual leaves and plants rather than the drawings found in so many nature guides. For me, identifying a tree in the field using a photograph, is much easier than using an artist's rendition.

Conclusion

May I suggest you visit Naturegraph Publishers, Inc.'s website to see what other books they have that may interest you? I believe you will find them all to be of value in your nature library. Due to the wide variety of topics covered by their books, I know I'll be returning to this publisher often when searching for nature books.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic