Muenscher's Keys to Woody Plants

This major expansion and revision of W. C. Muenscher's popular reference work brings a wealth of botanical knowledge up to date in an easy-to-access format. Muenscher's Keys to Woody Plants enables its users to identify trees and shrubs in all seasons by means of diagnostic field characteristics including leaves, fruits, buds, twigs, and bark.

Keys to Woody Plants was first published privately in 1922; Cornell University Press published the sixth edition in 1950. The new and expanded version of this classic identification tool for horticulturists, botanists, foresters, and ecologists treats 335 genera and 1,156 species of woody plants found in the northeastern United States. This is more than double the number covered by Muenscher's sixth edition and includes 570 cultivated species. Edward A. Cope's revision:

* teaches concepts and terms necessary to all botanical identification
* retains the simple structure of Muenscher's original keys
* brings the nomenclature into line with current use
* provides both a comprehensive key—including native, introduced, and cultivated species—and, for ease of use in the field, a separate key devoted to native and naturalized introduced species.
*meets the needs of both novices and seasoned professionals
* includes a bibliography of resources that allow the reader to move beyond identification and learn more about the woody plants

Edward A. Cope is an Extension Botanist at the Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University. He is the author of Native and Cultivated Conifers of Northeastern North America: A Guide, also from Cornell. Walter C. Muenscher, New York State's "Wizard of Weeds," was Professor of botany at Cornell University from 1923 to 1954. Muenscher had special interests in wetlands, poisonous plants, and trees, and was the author of more than 125 articles and several books in addition to Keys to Woody Plants.