“Wildflowers of the Boundary Waters”
I recently received a copy of a new book published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, called Wildflowers of the Boundary Waters: Hiking Through the Seasons, by Betty vos Hemstad. It’s not intended as a field guide, though it does give sufficient information to identify most of the plants in it. It is more of a picture book, with full-color photos of the 120 species covered within its pages, showing each species, as seen while hiking, in various stages of its life cycle. Each has a 2-page spread. The accompanying text, written in a conversational manner, provides some history, folk uses, and/or commentary rather than taxonomy.
I think what I like most about it is the full-page photo of the plant in its “natural” habitat (I use that term a little loosely because not all of the species in the book are native to Minnesota). There are some magnificent views of the landscape as well as some striking shots of flowers and fruits/seeds taken with a macro lens.
In the introduction, the author mentions that, when deciding which species to include, any flowering plant growing wild near her cabin was considered. Thus about 1/3 of the book is devoted to non-native species, some of which are very common, like red and white clovers, and some of which are quite invasive, like spotted knapweed. She doesn’t make judgments about them (like I would!), but seems to simply accept the plants as they are. Including them probably also gives a more complete picture of the Boundary Waters area—it is just as susceptible to invasion as anywhere else.
The 2/3 devoted to native species includes some species common throughout much of Minnesota, but also has gems like rose twistedstalk, twinflower and a number of orchids. My favorite section is the early season bloomers. They should be coming up right about now.
I did find 2 errors in the book: Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) is marked as a native species but is not, and Pale vetchling (Lathyrus ochroleucus) is not marked as native but is. I was also a little surprised at some of the flower colors. While it is a fact that a species may have a range of flower colors or hues, I never expected to see spreading dogbane with such deep pink flowers—they are so pale around here! The colors should be true though, at least to that area.
If you are interested in the flora of the Boundary Waters or just nature photography in general, you may enjoy this book. You can read more about it at the Minnesota Historical Society Press shop.
Tags: books, nature photography, Wildflowers
