Title: Good first book
Product review: I used the original edition of this book and it was my introduction to dendrology. It shows the overall tree, leaf structure, and flowers, which are the main parts to use in identifying a plant. One thing it lacks is a close up illustration of the bark, useful in differentiating pines, firs, and so forth, and even hardwoods such as sycamore, which has peeling, deciduous bark, and the prunus genus, which contains cherry trees, which have horizontally striated, lenticele bark. This book covers North America so it can't be exhaustive in such a small book, but nevertheless, many important trees get covered, and it still makes a good choice for a young, budding naturalist. Also, trees are a good place to start with plant identification since they're so big and usually relatively easy to identify. Another great book on trees to start with trees Donald Culross Peattie's Natural History of North American Trees, which is now 65 years old and a classic, but still one of the best.
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