Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe

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View books by Richard Sidney Richmond Fitter, Alastair Fitter.

They keys are a nice idea in theory ... - Rated
Nice clear layout, manageable size, good illustrations and descriptions. A bit fiddly having to leaf to the back of the book for the maps, which is a shame, as the maps are very useful for eliminating mis-identified plants due to location.

I like the idea of the keys and got quite excited about them but found using them in anger a bit frustrating. There are a few inconsistencies too, e.g: Arrhenatherum elatius (False Oat-grass) is described as "ligules blunt", but the key for it is DL - Ligule POINTED). I've pretty much given up on the keys now and just leaf through until I spot likely matches then read the descriptions.

All in all a practical field-guide but I'm still not sure about those keys.

A good all round field guide to grasses, sedges & rushes - Rated
Clear colour illustrations and concise informative descriptions. The Key is a little peculiar though proves useful when looking for prompts according to habitat types ie, heath, wetlands, chalk etc. This guide is limited when you have to differentiate between very similar species and sub-species - for more detailed work Hubbard or Francis Rose may prove more useful. However I do not hesitate in recommending this book for general field use, it is more appealling to the eye than Hubbard !

Hopefully Collins will look to update this fine book with a second edition and make it superb.