Wild Things columnist Eric Brown discovers the delights of flower power in a lavishly illustrated book designed to educate readers about plant and flower identification.

It arrived, appropriately enough, during the first days of the Chelsea Flower Show.

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You know, those days when the glitterati of stage, screen and music preen in their best togs at the annual flower bunfight in the hope of being interviewed on TV about how much they admire garden designs ludicrously impractical for most of us ordinary beings to even consider.

Yes, among this over-the-top mayhem came a book designed to make identification simple for plant duffers like me. British and Irish Wild Flowers and Plants has already enabled me to fill considerable gaps in my natural history knowledge. It is the latest high-quality product off the never-ending WildGuides production line which has dealt with most corners of the natural world with guides from birds, mammals and reptiles to insects, plant galls and habitat. They are all excellent and this latest publication is no different.

It does not claim to be completely comprehensive but 3,800 superb colour photographs and precise text will be enough for most of us to name the commoner species of plant life. There are bushes and trees, too, and the book attempts to answer the old question, when does a bush become a tree ? It can provide a springboard into the wider world of botanical identification involving plants common or rare. For someone like me who doesn't know his gymnosperms from his angiosperms it will be invaluable. I'm OK on the common stuff like bluebells, daffodils, primrose, buttercups, dandelions, daisies etc but beyond that I start to struggle. With plants flourishing due to almost daily combinations of sun and rain there is no better time to obtain a book like this and put it to the test. 

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Special features include distribution maps, a centimetre measure inside the cover and the whole book is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. There are apps these days which identify plants when mobile phones are pointed at them but this hasn't worked for me. I find sun or bright light reflects off the phone screen making detail impossible to read so a pocket guide will score over that. Even scanning through the index is so much fun as interesting names cascade off the page. Viper's bugloss has always been a favourite. Then there's lady's bedstraw, bittersweet, dodder, Yorkshire fog, sneezewort, fat hen, black horehound. The list goes on.

Another superb addition to a natural history library from WildGuides.

Events

Sunday, June 16: RSPB Bexley Group coach trip to The Lodge and RSPB Rye Meads 7.30am to 7pm. Tickets £23. Booking essential at deborahfrances@aol.com or call 07957 776686.

Friday, July 12 to Sunday, July 14: Global Bird Fair. Rutland Showground, Oakham, LE15 7TW. Details at https://globalbirdfair.org