Rating: 
Summary: Just way too cool!
Review: I've been using various versions of the Tree Finder to teach classification for 15 years. It is a simple dichotomous key that high schoolers can master in fifteen minutes or less. It's a great introduction to using nature guides to get even more enjoyment out of the outdoors.
Rating:
Summary: Just way too cool!
Review: I've been using various versions of the Tree Finder to teach classification for 15 years. It is a simple dichotomous key that high schoolers can master in fifteen minutes or less. It's a great introduction to using nature guides to get even more enjoyment out of the outdoors.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much error!
Review: I've only been in a dendrology course two weeks to know this book has far too many errors to be taken seriously. My largest complaint is the writing of the scientific names. NEVER do you capitalize the first letter of the species name! The author/ editors were entirely inconsistant about doing so. While they would capitalize species derived from names (eg. Pinus banksiana), they did not capitalize those from states and "americana" (even though the normal English guide they were following would have made them do so). This error occured 17 times in the guide, highly disappointing for a publication. Obviously, they knew general guidelines, but they need to better understand the science behind taxonomy. Teaching people to write names wrong is not a way of expanding knowledge. Also, when writing the common name, NOTHING is capitalized unless it is a name for a PLACE: on page 4, American Elm and REALLY American elm (they avoided this by carefully capitlizing EVERYTHING later in the finder), and just for further information, jack pine is written like that, all lower case because "jack" is not a place. I'm sure there are more errors, I just haven't gotten that far. Anyways, I'm sure it's a cute little book to bring on camping trips, but it does little good in real science, missing key facts that distinguish one species from another..... as well as family names (a NECESSARY component of understanding linking relationships!). If you want to spend the 3.50 on it, go ahead, but be sure not to think of this as a "book," it's only a general, non-scientific, uninformative key for distinguishing common trees in North America.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Scouts
Review: Kids have fun using the book and they end up learning how to ID trees! Satisfies a requirement for Webelos Scouts.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book for child learning to identify by leaves
Review: My 7 yr old loves to look through this book while we go on nature hikes...yes in NJ! As a prior reviewer stated there are no illustrations of the whole tree - just the leaves. For my child's age and curiosity it works very well.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for child learning to identify by leaves
Review: My 7 yr old loves to look through this book while we go on nature hikes...yes in NJ! As a prior reviewer stated there are no illustrations of the whole tree - just the leaves. For my child's age and curiosity it works very well.
Rating:
Summary: Only leaf illustrations in this one
Review: Neat book if you need to know what the leaves of a particular tree look like, but that's it. There's no photos, only illustrations, and no illustrations of the shape of the tree or its height, just the leaves themselves. It's a cute illustration job, but unless you need to know about the leaves, I would pass this one by, and even if you think you've narrowed down which tree it is by the leaves, how can be sure that it's the same tree if there are no illustrations of the trees themselves? Probably a good book to sell in a gift shop to give a curious kid.
Rating:
Summary: Only leaf illustrations in this one
Review: Neat book if you need to know what the leaves of a particular tree look like, but that's it. There's no photos, only illustrations, and no illustrations of the shape of the tree or its height, just the leaves themselves. It's a cute illustration job, but unless you need to know about the leaves, I would pass this one by, and even if you think you've narrowed down which tree it is by the leaves, how can be sure that it's the same tree if there are no illustrations of the trees themselves? Probably a good book to sell in a gift shop to give a curious kid.
Rating: 
Summary: synopsis
Review: Pocket-sized, dichotomous key to identifying native trees by their leaves and needles, in the US and Canada east of the Rockies. Also includes some widely introduced non-native trees.This is the classic, little green book (with some updates and revisions) that you might remember having used on a school field trip or in Scouts. What's a dichotomous key? It's an identification key that leads you through a series of questions about the plant in front of you. Each question makes you chose between two possibilities (dichotomous means dividing in two), and each choice brings you closer to the name of the species. In TREE FINDER, the first question you have to answer is, "does the tree have needles or leaves?" Key guides encourage close observation of plant structures and help you learn which trees are closely related to each other. In the West, use ROCKY MOUNTAIN TREE FINDER, PACIFIC COAST TREE FINDER, or DESERT TREE FINDER, all by Watts.
Rating:
Summary: Field guide to trees east of the Rockies
Review: The classic dichotomous key to identifying trees by their leaves. Covers US and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding subtropical Florida. Includes native and many introduced species. If you want to identify deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves in the fall) in winter, try Winter Tree Finder by Watts. For other regions, see Pacific Coast Tree Finder by Tom Watts, Desert Tree Finder by May Watts and Tom Watts, and Rocky Mountain Tree Finder by Tom Watts
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