Book excerpt: Here is the most inclusive field guide available to the wildflowers in the northeastern United States. Designed for easy use, the book features two-page spreads with descriptive text and range maps on one side facing pages of color photos on the other. The descriptions are concise, but thorough, and the range maps show both where the plant grows and what time of year it is likely to be in bloom. Plants are grouped by flower color, usually the feature first noticed by the observer. The species are subsequently grouped by petal arrangement, type of leaves, and number of flower parts as indicated in the "quick characters" box at the top of each page.