Native and naturalized plants
Native and naturalized plants of the Carolinas and Georgia












 

 

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A Naturalist's Guide to the Southern Blue Ridge Front
L.L. Gaddy
Gaddy says, "In this work, I have attempted to fashion a field guide that could be used by hikers, climbers, naturalists, botanists, zoologists, wildflower lovers, waterfall watchers, and others who love exploring the outdoors...."
University of South Carolina Press.


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North Carolina's Best Wildflower Hikes: The Mountains
Kevin Adams
Both a trail guide and a field guide, this book tells what's blooming, when and where. Fifty prime wildflower-viewing hikes are described in detail, with maps and beautiful photos.
Westcliffe Publishers.
The Book of Forest and Thicket
The Book of Swamp and Bog
The Book of Field and Roadside

John Eastman
One by one, Eastman discusses the trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers that you might encounter in each of these ecosystems, and, in a very conversational way, tells you every blessed thing you might want to know — how to identify it, where it came from, what's related to it, how it's used now, how it's been used traditionally, what pollinates it, what eats it, what's been written about it and who has researched it. Fascinating stuff.
Stackpole Books.

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Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway
J. Anthony Alderman
Not just a field guide, but a tour guide to 75 of the best sites along the Parkway for viewing wildflowers in spring, summer, and fall.
University of North Carolina Press.
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Guide to the Plants of Granite Outcrops
William H. Murdy & M. Eloise Brown Carter
Granite outcrops throughout the piedmont region of the Southeast support a unique flora, including species found nowhere else in the world. However local governments and land-owners often consider these sites to be worthless wastelands. This book is a field guide to — and an argument for the protection of —a unique, delicate, and under-appreciated environment.
Written for the layperson, the book describes about 100 plant species, which are arranged according to their flowering season.

University of Georgia Press

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Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers
Robert W. Hutson, William F. Hutson & Aaron J. Sharp
This book arranges the plants roughly in the order of their blooming season, and the description often tells you specific places in the Smokies where each plant is found. Excellent photographs, and useful thoughout the Southern Appalachians.
Windy Pines Publishing.


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Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains
Richard M. Smith
This book is extremely comprehensive within its coverage area, and it describes and explains differences between similar species in plain English. When faced with an unfamiliar plant, you may find yourself reaching for this book first.
The plants are grouped by family and arranged in pretty much the same order as in the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.

The University of Tennessee Press.

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Newcomb's Wildflower Guide
Lawrence Newcomb
Illustrated by Gordon Morrison
The beautiful illustrations in this book remind us that color photographs often bombard us with extraneous information, whereas well-done line drawings can highlight the important details.
Plants are arranged according to plant structures visible to the untrained eye, and Newcomb's unique keying sytem points you to the correct page.
Little, Brown & Company.

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Wild Flowers of NC: Also Covering Virginia, South Carolina, and Areas of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland & Delaware
William S. Justice & C. Ritchie Bell
This classic field guide includes photos, as well as information on identifying features and habitat, of wild flowers and flowering trees, shrubs, vines, and weeds found in North Carolina and neighboring states. (It also provides each plant's Vascular Flora of the Carolinas index number.)
The University of North Carolina Press.

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Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition
William S. Justice,C. Ritchie Bell, & Anne H. Lindsey
The new edition includes over 100 additional species, as well as expanded information on such topics as endangered species, medicinal uses, the wild garden, and commercial availability of nursery-grown natives.
The University of North Carolina Press.

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All About South Carolina Wildflowers
Jan W. Midgley
The cover describes this as "a complete guide to plant communities, identification, cultivation, and traditional uses." It is both a field gide and a gardening manual. Midgley takes the time to introduce the reader into basic differences of plant families, to tell you which plants are easily propagated by seed and which by stem cuttings, to list plants which attract butterflies and moths, to describe the natural plant communities.... In the individual plant descriptions, she points out distinguishing features, traditional uses, recommended propagation techniques, and more....
Sweetwater Press.

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Wildflowers of Tennessee
Jack B. Carman
If you live in the Carolinas, and you're only going to buy one book, this should not be your first choice: Since Tennessee doesn't have a coastal plain and stretches all the way to the Mississippi River, the book includes plants we'll never see here and omits many that we do.
However, with more than 1100 species well described, and 780 pictured, it's a useful addition to your library. Check out the coverage area map. Plants are arranged by Family.
Highland Rim Press.

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Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians
Dennis Horn & Tavia Cathcart
The coverage area of this book centers on Tennessee, but it encompasses the western Carolinas as well. The plants are arranged by family, and the more complex families are preceded by a description and a key. For those averse to formal keys, there is a handy "color key" featuring 300 thumbnail images grouped by flower color.
The glossary is a helpful combination of alphabetically arranged verbal definitions and thematically arranged (remarkably communicative) illustrations.
This official field guide of the Tennessee Native Plant Society includes over 1250 species and 800 photographs.

Lone Pine Publishing

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Southern Appalachian Wildflowers
Barbara Medina & Victor Medina
Descriptions and photos of nearly 300 species, arranged by flower color. If you want to compare closely related plants, just look up a Family in the index and the plants within that family are grouped.
The Globe Pequot Press.
Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia
Linda G. Chafin
This book provides us with identification tools that we often can only wish for: Photographs capture the plant's appearance in flower, fruit and/or foliage, then carefully done line drawings make clear the details that distinguish this plant from another. The text includes a comprehensive field description — written in such a way that laymen will find easy to understand, along with descriptions of similar species, where to expect to find the plant, when it's most easily spotted, and advice as to how to protect its habitat.
This is all prefaced by descriptions of several natural communities notable for supporting rare plants, with just the amount of information to "wrap your brain around."

Published by the State Botanical Garden of Georgia in association with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance.

Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry
Richard D. Porcher
A comprehensive guide to the wildflowers of the Carolna Lowcountry, with detailed descriptions of over 400 species, including distinguishing features, history, and folk uses. Various Carolina habitats are described and explained, and the plants are grouped as one might find them in nature. Directions to 48 prime wildflower sites.
University of South Carolina Press.

Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers
Gil Nelson
The south Atlantic coastal plain is well known for its unique and diverse flora. This book focuses on the coastal regions of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Florida. Plants are grouped by flower color within the text, but in the index you can see them grouped by family.
A Falcon Guide.

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Wild Orchids of South Carolina: A Popular Natural History
James Alexander Fowler
The introduction calls this book "a popular account of one man's intoxicating obsession with wild orchids." It is that, and more. Each of South Carolina's fifty-five native orchid species is described, mapped, and illustrated with incredible photography. A valuable reference that's a pleasure to use.
University of South Carolina Press.

Wild Orchids of South Carolina: The Story
Lucy Dueck
Written and produced by Lucy Dueck of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, this 20-page book describes 53 species native to South Carolina — 42 of which are pictured.
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory.
Native Orchids of the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Stanley L. Bentley
Fifty-two species of wild orchids native to the Southern Appalachian mountains are covered, including notes on each orchid's habitat, range, time of flowering, and flower description, along with maps.
The University of North Carolina Press.

The Pocket Naturalist Series offers a llittle bit of information about a lot of plants in an easy-to-carry laminated format.

Edible Wild Plants Pocket Naturalist

Medicinal Plants Pocket Naturalist


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North Carolina Trees & Wildflowers Pocket Naturalist

Waterford Press.

Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses
James H. Miller & Karl V. Miller
This field guide places special emphasis on the relationships of plants to their environment, to each other, and to wildlife. It often offers an assortment of photographs for a single plant, showing such things as flower, fruit, leaf, or habit, and pointing out distinguishing features.
The University of Georgia Press.


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Wildflowers of the Eastern United States
Wilbur H. Duncan & Marion B. Duncan
This book describes over 1100 eastern species from Maine to northern Florida — including a few grasses, rushes, and sedges along with the expected forbs — with information on range, blooming season, and typcial habitat. More than 600 color photographs. Arranged by Family.
University of Georgia Press.
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Edible Wild Plants
Thomas S. Elias & Peter A. Dykeman
Since you might actually eat the plants described in this book, the authors show you the flower, the leaf, the fruit, etc., to hopefully insure you get it right.
Sterling Publishing Co, Inc.


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All About Weeds
Edwin Rollin Spencer
Who would expect that a book about "weeds" could be such a delightful read? The author was both a farmer and a professor of biology, and he speaks as one intimately acquainted with each plant that he describes.
Originally published in 1940.

Dover Publications.
Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses
Tim R. Murphy, Daniel L. Colvin, Ray Dickens, John W. Everest, David Hall, L. B. (Bert) McCarty
Turfgrass monocultures don't have much tolerance for free-spirited individualists, so some wild plants that native plant enthusiasts embrace are included in this book as weeds — alongside others that are genuine pests. Nevertheless, a useful book which describes and provides multiple photos of almost 200 plants.
Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service.

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Winter Weed Finder: A Guide to Dry Plants in Winter
Dorcas S. Miller
This booklet will help you identify common native and naturalized herbs and native ferns in the late fall and winter. (Grasses and sedges are not included.)
Nature Study Guild Publishers.

Videos: Wild Flowers of the Eastern Forests
• Spring • Summer • Fall

C. Ritchie Bell (script) & Anne H. Lindsey (photography)
The narratives are chock full of information; the photography visually communicates the text and is beautiful as well — but the folks who did the music and voiceover made it a little too soothing.... So grab a cup of coffee, these are worth watching more than once.
Plants are arranged by Family, and a printed play-by-play accompanies each video.

Laurel Hill Press.

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