Trailside Notes: A Naturalist Companion to Adirondack Plants

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Summary: Nature study along the trail
Review: If you enjoy going back to the same patch of woods at different seasons to see what has changed, if you would like to know more about familiar plants, you will enjoy this little book of naturalist Ruth Schottman's essays about the natural history of plants encountered along trails and roadsides. Although her essays were written for the magazine of the Adirondack Mountain Club, the plants she discusses are found throughout the northeastern U.S. (and southeastern Canada.)
Over half the book is devoted to the ephemeral flowers of spring--from skunk cabbage to bunchberry--explaining their relationship to other plants and insects, how they grow, why their flowers are shaped as they are. For the other seasons, she branches out to flowers of sunny openings, roadsides and wetlands--mullein, jewel weed, pokeweed--and other topics--fungi, even Christmas trees. Schott's descriptions combine scientific detail, folklore, and her own field observations, in a friendly, conversational style. Clem Habetler's line drawings are charming and informative.