Harrap's Flower ID books (1 Viewer)

[LizandDave]

I was very tempted to buy Harraps orchid book that is out now when I find a new Harraps wildflower book out as well, supposedly covering all wildflowers except the very rare to be found in the UK.
The orchid book is several pounds dearer than the other yet only covers one type of flower.

So does anyone know if the wildflower book covers orchids in sufficient detail to make the orchid book unnecessary or would I need both books? Or does the orchid book go into the ins and outs of hybrids which all seems hit and miss to me unless DNA testing is done.

I am enjoying finding orchids but also photograph and log all wildflowers down to humble plants such as a hawkweed!

I have little spare income hence the question.
Thanks Dave

 

[black52bird]

I was very tempted to buy Harraps orchid book that is out now when I find a new Harraps wildflower book out as well, supposedly covering all wildflowers except the very rare to be found in the UK.
The orchid book is several pounds dearer than the other yet only covers one type of flower.

So does anyone know if the wildflower book covers orchids in sufficient detail to make the orchid book unnecessary or would I need both books? Or does the orchid book go into the ins and outs of hybrids which all seems hit and miss to me unless DNA testing is done.

I am enjoying finding orchids but also photograph and log all wildflowers down to humble plants such as a hawkweed!

I have little spare income hence the question.
Thanks Dave

Dave
I looked at it in Heffer's in Cambridge this week, and was vaguely tempted.
It does not go into detail on any of the species recorded, as it is a very general book. I have long used Polunin's 'Flowers of Europe', and although Harrap illustrates species not in that, it lacks the breadth (for me - as I live in continental Europe). You could not do with this book if orchids were your special interest - you would need the Orchid monograph.
That said, it has nice photographic illustrations of the commoner UK wild flowers.
However, for choice and detail, I would still use the Blamey/Grey-Wilson drawn illustrations book as a main field guide in the UK.

hope this helps a bit...
Best

David

 

[chris butterworth]

The orchid book is good, as far as it goes. It only mentions hybrids, not how to identify them though, and the binding on mine is crap as it fell apart very quickly. The taxonomy, for British orchids, is far in advance of Blamey et al , which is a point in its favour.

Chris

 

[IJS]

I have both books. His orchid one is superb as it goes into lots of details about each species, its history and biology. There is also a very useful guide to where to go and see the species around the OK.

His new one is very general, more than I had appreciated when I bought it the other week. That said its still a good book, just don't expect it to tell you about our rarer flora. It still has great photos, and unexpected detail in places.

Of the two if your main interest is orchids, then buy his orchid book.

 

[LizandDave]

Thanks for the information, explains why one would need an orchid book if the other supposedly covers all UK wildflowers.
Regards
Dave

 

[PaulClack]

Harrap's Wild Flowers

I have both, and rather like the new wild flower book - it's a useful complement to the usual illustrated guides and has some nice extra material, like a photo of all the poppy seed capsules next to each other for comparison. It doesn't replace my Rose, Fitter/Blamey or grasses book that are my main field guides but is a useful complement.

For example, I was looking at some stonecrops the other day and the pictures in Harrap helped back up the text and keys in the other guides, as the illustrations of small flowers are sometimes hard to interpret. In Harrap, you can see the differences in petal shape between English and white stonecrops quite nicely.

Also, only £11 on a well known on line natural history book merchant.

Paul

 

[LizandDave]

Thanks Paul