Wild Flowers of the Yukon, Alaska and Northwestern Canada. 2nd ed.

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

This volume follows a predictable field guide format, with photographs
and plant description (although the description is narrative rather than
point form favoured in many guides). The text includes the scientific
name; detailed morphology of flowers, stems, and leaves; flowering
season; geographic distribution; and preferred growing location.
Occasionally, common name derivation and human use are also included.
Although the title includes Alaska and northwestern Canada, this book is
really about the wild flowers found in “the Yukon and adjacent
areas.” It is not comprehensive, but rather includes
“representatives of nearly all the families of flowering plants” in
northwestern Canada and neighbouring Alaska.

While the introduction tells us that “the aim of this book is to
fulfill the need for a popular guide to the flowering plants,” the
text contains many technical botanical terms, often densely packed. For
example, in comparing the upper and lower leaves of the
Narcissus-flowered Anenome, the author writes that the upper leaves are
“deeply lobed, sessile and smaller than the long-petioled, ternately
cleft basal ones.” While this is an accurate description, most lay
readers would not have a clear picture in their minds after a first
reading. Trelawny does provide an illustrated glossary, but it is
organized by plant parts, so you have to know what a panicle is in order
to know where to find it in the list.

Images take up about half of each page. Compared with the Lone Pine
flower guides, which set the standard for production quality, these
images looks dull.

While the book has shortcomings, there are not many guides covering the
flowers of this area, so it is a valuable contribution to the field.