How Do I Choose the Best Trees Field Guide?

A trees field guide can be useful in identifying the types of trees in your area. When you are selecting one of these nature books, try to find a pocket-sized guide that has a laminated front and back cover. It can also be helpful to look at the pictures inside to see if they show a great deal of detail. A tree reference book will be most helpful if it contains information about the tree's leaves, bark, fruit, and size, and other defining characteristics.

Some trees field guide books may be best used when identifying deciduous trees. Other guide books may only include evergreen species, or it might list both. If you know which type of trees you would like to study, this can be helpful in selecting a tree reference book.

It can also be helpful to look at the trees field guide to see what area it is written for. That way, you will not be looking at a manual that has pictures of trees you are unlikely to encounter. Some reference books may be written for a specific country, while others may be geared toward a particular region. A guide book that is geared toward your specific location will be more useful than one written to cover a wide geographic area.

You may want to identify trees by looking at a number of different features. For this reason, it can be helpful if the trees field guide you are looking at contains pictures of many different parts of the tree. An ideal reference book will have glossy photographs of the tree's leaves and bark. If the tree bears nuts, cones, or fruit, there should be pictures of these as well.

Along with photographs of different trees, a nature book may also have information about different species of trees. Some of the things that might be listed are the tree's size, type of soil it grows in, and where it is likely to be found. This type of information can be helpful if you are using a trees field guide to help you when landscaping.

Since you may often be using your trees field guide outdoors, it can be a good idea to choose one with a laminated cover. If you are unable to find a laminated nature book, you may want to purchase a vinyl cover for it instead. Doing so can protect your reference book from the elements so you will be able to use it for many years.