Plant Crib

A 2012 reprint of this useful book, with the previous corrigenda and addenda (last updated 2001) now included in the introductory text.

The Plant Crib (1998) evolved from earlier publications and was prepared to facilitate plant identification and recording of the British Flora, in particular providing guidance on problematic and difficult groups. Some 350 taxonomic groups are covered. Invaluable to all field botanists and ecologists, it contains a vast amount of practical help and guidance and its wealth of drawings and comparative tables for similar species and hybrids are not matched elsewhere.

Whilst most of the entries are still useful and accurate by current standards, ideally it should be consulted alongside other more recent reference works, such as: the New Flora of the British Isles 4th edition (Stace 2019); several recent BSBI Handbooks (2007 onwards)- viz. Whitebeams, Grasses, Fumitories, Water-starworts (Callitriche), Sedges, Violas, Eyebrights and Gentians; the multi-volume Flora of Great Britain and Ireland (Sell & Murrell 1997 to date): The Vegetative Key to the British Flora  2nd edition (Poland and Clement 2020).