Guide to Texas Grasses (Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Service Series)

Illustrations are pretty good and you can use this book to identify many grass species in the field

One would think that a 1000+ page tome dedicated to the grasses of Texas would be the complete end-all reference. Unfortunately it's not. The species accounts are seriously lacking, with only a few notable characters mentioned and no seasonality given. Grass of Texas (Gould), Grasses of the Texas Gulf Prairies and Marshes (Hatch, et al), Manual of Vascular Plants of Texas (Correll and Johnston) and the Flora of North America Volumes on Grasses all have much more detailed text accounts. In addition the keys don't seem as good as those of Gould. Gould's often uses several characters, whereas Shaw's is more limiting. The book has excellent illustrations for apparently every species, but these appear to be recycled from previous publications. The Flora of North America volumes uses a lot (most) of the same illustrations. Maps are included for every species, which is great. The page quality and binding are top notch.

Descriptions and pictures of grasses were clear and concise.

No common names, not categorized by look of the plants flower or shape. It would take you days to find your grass, so if you can use this book easily then you would probably not need the book, ,,, unless it was for you botany class. But a beautiful book for sure. My problem is I will have to got get a Botany degree to use it.

It is a very good refrence

this was a gift to my wife , who just completed the Texas Master Naturalist course. Since it is so close to Christmas she hasn't had a chance to review it in depth but it is a very comprehensive guide to our native grasses which is her interest as we have been trying to restore our land to its previous prairie. This was highly recommended to me by another Master Naturalist who has 200 acres and is the 6th generation on her property.

This book should be in every field biologist's library, as the ease of use and comprehensive coverage of Texas grasses is unparalleled. Bought this to use for Regulatory work, it's become an essential guide in day to day use! Well done, Dr. Shaw, thank you!

A bit technical for the lay person. I'm lucky that Professor Powell who is cited throughout the book works where I live and has been kind enough to help me ID grasses. He also gave a talk here so that I'm more familiar with the technical terms relating to grasses. Otherwise I think this book would be daunting. It's beautifully done and I recommend it if you have an interest in Texas grasses.