Frustrating Flowers and Puzzling Plants

John M. Warren’s book tackles the trickiest of taxonomies, helping us understand our umbellifers and suss out our speedwells. It’s funny, clearly written and absolutely fascinating.

A really useful and readable book which gives you all the fine detail and understanding that is missing from your typical wild plant ID guide.

People who grow and photograph orchids, particularly indigenous ones, often have an interest in the other wildflowers that grow with them. This book gives a unique method of getting to grips with them.

…extremely professionally designed… The compiled identification guides, although based on the flora of Great Britain and Ireland, can also be useful in Central Europe. This is helped not least by the clear characteristic tables and the colored sketches… The appealing layout could, especially for beginners, alert them to the critical groups and the problems involved early on, and encourage in-depth study.

John Warren has had a long academic career researching the origins of botanical diversity and promoting public understanding of science. Having been a senior lecturer in ecology at Aberystwyth University, in 2016 he became Vice Chancellor of the Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment. Now retired back in the UK, he is an Associate Tutor for the Field Studies Council.