Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians (Princeton Field Guides)

What Roger Tory Peterson did for birds so many years ago Drs. Rohrer and McKnight have done for mosses: providing the first comprehensive field guide. Covering 200 species common to the Northeast, Appalachians, and Upper Midwest this breakthrough work provides a systematic means for differentiating between a bewildering array of these beautiful primitive plants. All aspects of this guide, from writing to photography, line drawings, and sturdy binding will please the avid field guide user. There are two versions of this book: one is spiral bound and the other (currently offered by Amazon) has a standard binding/cover with a clear vinyl dust jacket. Either will fit handily into a pack pocket.Besides morphologic identifying features, the guide also indicates the typical habitat each moss is found in.For the gardener, this book builds on books of the past two decades (Schenk, Cullina) that have taught us how to use moss in garden or path as a ground-cover grass-alternative, by enabling us to know which moss one has found and whether it might be appropriate for a desired garden setting.If you're on the fence about purchasing this book a glance at the "look inside" feature of Amazon's entry will convince you how beautifully laid out it is.In detail: The first 30 pages are an introduction to mosses and how to use the book.The next 300 are species entries, each comprising a two page spread: To the left of the binding are multiple photographs and line drawings, all excellent; On the right are: scientific and common name, overall appearance, leaves, capsules, habitat, similar species and microscopic features. The species are organized according to morphology with color coded tabs extending to the front page margins for easy navigation.The next 40 pages are dichotomous keys which I personally found to speed up the identification process.4 pages of species lists for each of 10 different habitats (bogs, forest floor, etc).5 pages of index.

I found this a very useful guide to mosses in the White Mountains. There we have a plethora of many mosses and the guide provides a simple and direct way to determine what one sees. Basically there is a branch and leaf type guide on the edges of the pages and nicely color coded so that determining a species is very straightforward. The photos are clear and detailed and the specifics detail the plant at visual and microscopic levels. The book is sturdy for field use and is useful for both beginners and those with more experience in the field. The only negative is that is is a bit heavy and thick but the detail is worth the extra few ounces.

Did you know that there are this many different mosses? I had no idea. Fun walk through the wood finding and identifying all these looking mosses!

This book should be on the shelf of any lover of the outdoors in northeastern U.S. The best part is the excellent photographs. They good enough for anybody to get at least close to a correct identification of the mosses they encounter. My only serious complaint is that the authors have used casual terms for moss parts without giving the corresponding technical terms in the book. It is supposed to make the book more accessible to non-professionals but it will make it hard for beginners to appreciate that lid means operculum when they try to use other books. Their identification method is a bit unorthodox and will take some getting used to.

I live on a small but diverse 3 acre wooded lot in NW CT. There is a seemingly endless number of mosses, all astonishingly beautiful, waiting to be observed and identified on my little acreage.The delicate perfection of each tiny plant is a marvel and this book has helped me grow in my appreciation of these beautiful plants.I would highly recommend this guide to anyone who enjoys a walk in the woods, or even a shady place in the garden. Mosses are all around us and, for me, it is a pleasure to be able to identify them.The books is well organized, clear and concise. Identifying the various mosses is simple with this books as a reference.

I go out in the woods a lot, and this book makes moss identification fun and accessible. Especially helpful is that the book provides a large photo of the moss as it will look when you see it in the forest, plus smaller pictures of the leaves as you'll see them if you look in a microscope, plus a drawing showing you what about the leaves are distinctive. Plus, each species description also includes a "similar species" section, which I've used so many times. It also has written descriptions of the appearance, leaves, capsules and habitat. This book will help you appreciate the fabulous diversity of Northeastern mosses.

For the first time, it's possible for beginners to identify mosses without a struggle. The keys are user-friendly. This book will make mosses accessible to many more amateur naturalists. If your plant is not common enough to find the species exactly, at least you can get a running start. It has recently been possible to identify a moss from one of my study plots that I have been wondering about for years. In the past, I was too intimidated by the technical books I had struggled with, so put the job off.

Perfect and just what I needed for research.

This is one of the better designed field guides I have seen - and my shelves are full of field guides. Mosses, unlike ferns or trees or birds, are very difficult to differentiate - especially for the novice. They're very tiny plants often forming nondescript green mats on logs, in your lawn, or along stream banks. But this book takes the mystery out of them, and it does so with a remarkably easy to use key, clear photographs, detailed line drawings, and excellent descriptions. Simple, clear, colour-coded symbols help you navigate through the guide.As with many field guides, it starts with a section on the natural history of mosses and provides some interesting reading on plants that are sometimes confused for mosses. But the best part - especially for the beginner - is the section on how to look at moss. It clearly lays out the best step-by-step approach to identifying your moss. This includes a series of well designed pictorial guides for differentiating the species based on habitat, leaf shape, and leaf morphology and ends with a pictorial key based on these criteria. And the symbols used follow through the text. At the back of the text is a more tradtional dichotomous key for those who are comfortable with its use.Each plant's description includes something about the preferred habitat and identifies similar species that might be confused with the one you are reading about. And at the back of the book is a great section listing the species you are likely to find in a variety of habitats: on rocks, on rotting logs, in disturbed soils, on tree bark, submerged, etc.The only complaint I have (and it is minor) is that, as a gardener who is trying to incorporate mosses into my garden, I would have liked some symbols for moisture, light requirements, and preferred substrate added to each description page. The information is there, but the symbols would have made the task simpler.If you want to know about mosses in the northeastern part of North America - this guide is well worth adding to your library.

For those wanting to get into mosses for the first time, as well as for those who think they know it all, this is an excellent little book. These ubiquitous plants are eautifully illustrated and clearly described, all you need more is a hand-lens. Where microscopic features might be useful, these are included too, and if you don't have (access to) a microscope then this book might just tempt you to consider one. The introduction is informative and readable, even entertaining. And the identification keys at the end are good, themselves with a wise introduction as to their best use. Mosses are almost everywhere, and this book might just stop many people from being unseeing to so much of astonishment, that they literally just walk on.

Great detailed book for beginners, really easy to use, it helps us to get familiarized with the bryophyte wolrd and terminology

I love using this field guide. Step by step it leads you logically through identifying any species of moss. The Identification Keys are fun to work through in a "Choose-your-own-Adventure" kind of way. Illustrations and photographs clarify text and are quite attractive, as is the entire book. Colour and symbol-coded page sections are helpful when you know the key features of your specimen. The text is concise, yet full of the information most useful to identification. I love the little bit about creating your own collection. I have a collection of three so far! Well worth the price!

I am just starting to use it but it seem to be very useful I started to use the keys