Trees of Florida

by Gil Nelson

This book is the first comprehensive guide to Florida's amazing variety of tree from scrub oak on the high central ridges to mangroves stretching along the southern coasts, from mighty live oaks to the delicate and diminutive hawthornes, from bald cypress with their knees poking up from the swamps to the coppery-colored gumbo limbo found in tropical hammocks of the Everglades and Keys, from the sabal palm found all over the state to the rare and endangered yew found only along the banks of the Apalachicola River in northern Florida. Florida, unique among the states, has both tropical and temperate forests. The early Florida visitor was awed by miles of unending pine flatwoods. Most modern Florida visitors are amazed by the lush tropical trees planted in cities, suburbs, and public gardens. This book covers both natives and exotics and includes suggested field sites for observing the species described. Divided into two sections, this book serves as both a reference and a field guide. Both sections help the reader answer the question “What tree is that?" by focusing on the families of Florida's trees. The line drawings show a combination of typical leaves, fruits, and flowers, and while accurate in detail, capture an overall impression, so helpful when trying to identify a species in the field. The color photos, all taken in Florida, are useful where color is important in identification. The first edition was very popular with both professionals and laypeople alike—it was heralded as accurate, comprehensive, and organized and written in an easy-to-understand way. This edition will be even more useful, as it adds about 140 more tree accounts for a total of more than 480 species. There are almost 600 color photos and many drawings and range maps. And now included is a key to tree families that will help with field identification.

Genres: Plants, Field Guides

528 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2010

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book randomly at my local library, given that I have started thinking about developing a food forest and would like to incorporate native trees into the design. This book is exactly what it says it is: a reference and field guide, primarily to help with identification of trees you may come across. So, while it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it has a lot of merits, and I am tempted to purchase it to have on-hand in the future.

As someone new to botany and identification, I appreciated Gil starting with a glossary of common terms, along with drawings to describe the many shapes and arrangement of leaves. Following that, there are some keys to assist with classification (I skipped that part). Trees are grouped as conifers, monocots, and dicots, and then are organized alphabetically by family.

Things I liked:
- If nothing else, this book feels comprehensive. There are definitely a few things people would classify more as shrubs, but that was the right call IMHO.
- The drawings of leafs in-line with the text was super helpful to browse and find what you are looking for. I particularly appreciated the drawings for the wide variety of oaks.
- The numbered color photographs in the center of the book. I thought this was going to be annoying to flip back-and-forth, but it is nice to be able to see all the photos in one go.
- The preface to each family giving some context to why the family is most relevant to Florida

Things I didn't like:
- I wish there was a quick symbol or flag of whether a tree was considered edible and/or toxic to humans. Sometimes it feels a bit buried in the "remarks"
- That the "distribution" was a mix of county names and habitat. First, while I've lived in Florida for ages, I only know the names of the counties near me. It's a rare person who is going to know all 67 counties and where they are located. This would've been more straightforward with a quick county map of Florida that was shaded with the range.

All-in-all, a solid reference book, but you'll be disappointed if you are looking for anything more than that.