Pteridophytes

A large, comprehensive field guide, with dichotomous keys and high quality colour photographs and line drawings. Similar species are illustrated in groups to facilitate identification.

A pocket-sized field guide to the pteridophytes of the USA, with innovative keys and good illustrations. The keys include: 8 species groupings based on frond shape, with each species illustrated by silhouettes annotated with spot characters; a simple polychotomous key, leading with frond complexity (simple, once pinnate, twice pinnate, thrice pinnate and non-fernlike) and shape (broadest at base, semi-tapering and tapering); illustrations of sori arrangement for each genus and polychotomous keys to Equisetum and Lycopodium.

A comprehensive, well illustrated guide, with clear keys and a strong emphasis on useful field characters. This is a good example of how close-up photographs can enhance fern guides. The keys include a dichotomous tree-type key to genera based on fertile characters and a bracketed dichotomous key to genera based on vegetative and fertile characters with black and white photographs.

Overall, this is a good model for anyone producing a fern guide. It has sufficiently detailed descriptions and illustrations for accurate identification, confusion species are indicated and vegetative characters are strongly emphasized. The silhouettes and drawings of pinna segments, sori and stem cross-sections are excellent, but the guide would be enhanced by colour photographs.

A laboratory manual aimed at taxonomists, archaeologists and forensic scientists. Includes an indented polychotomous key to genera and scanning electron micrographs and light photomicrographs of both acetolysed and fresh spores of all species.

A field guide aimed at complete beginners that concentrates solely on important identification characters. It consists of a key with annotated illustrations, and although the layout may seem cumbersome at first, with each couplet occupying a page, the use of space is economical and the illustrations are very good. This is part of the Field Studies Council series of aids to identification for difficult groups of animals and plants (AIDGAP), which are all tested in the field with potential users before publication.

A field guide to the pteridophytes of Peel Forest Scenic Park on South Island, New Zealand, aimed at park visitors and amateur botanists. This is an unusual fern guide, with emphasis on vegetative characters and several innovative features including annotated silhouettes, a comparative table for similar species and a composite illustration of the sori arrangement for all genera.

A field guide to the ferns of northeastern USA, with innovative keys and excellent descriptions and illustrations. The keys include: a page illustrating all 8 species of ferns without dissected fronds; an illustrated multi-access elimination key to ferns with dissected fronds, incorporating 93 characters (for each character numbers are given for the species that do not exhibit that character); an illustrated key to 91 groups of ferns with dissected fronds, based on 18 characters arranged in a table like a mileage chart, where the intersection of two characters gives the subkey to be used and dichotomous subkeys to 91 groups and to species for each genus.

A photographic guide intended as a companion to 'Flora of Malaya II - Ferns' by Holttum, R.E. (1968). It lacks a key and has too much empty space on the pages, but the colour photographs, showing habit, fronds and sori are very high quality.

A reference work illustrating the spores of the Pteridophyta. It does not have keys.