Snail Spirals

Today I am immersed in these, identifying dead plants pieces collected at a wetland delineation last week:



Field Guide to the Sedges of the Pacific Northwest, by Wilson et.al. of the Carex Working Group, 2008.

and

Manual of the Grasses for North America, edited by Barkworth et.al., 2007.

Pardon the terrible cell phone picture. I bought these two books about a month ago as personal resources for my job. They are FABULOUS. Pricey (think textbook prices, $30 and $80 respectively, for paperbacks), but fabulous and worth every penny.

The sedge book contains all the sedges (ALL! 163 species!) in Washington and Oregon. The grass book covers all the grasses (ALL! ~900 native and ~400 introduced species!) in North America north of Mexico. With pictures and range maps for each species. The grass book is extremely dense, basically a 350-page dichotomous key, with an additional 200 pages for the line drawings and maps. The sedge book is a little less ponderous, with a full 2-page spread for each species in addition to a dichotomous key, more descriptive text about each species, and several color photos for each. But of course, it only has to cover 163 species, not 1300 like the grass book!

These are not light reading, but will be incredibly valuable for what I do. I nearly drool when I look at them.

I'm a geek for sure.