The Plants of the Appalachian Trail

I would recommend this book to the avid botanist hiking the Appalachian Trail. I found it interesting the different ecosystems the path has along its course. Many plant and fungi species are discussed in detail. The color photographs are stunning in color quality, and provide a good specimen for the species described. I recommend this book to the Appalachian hiker or for someone interested in the flora of the trail. Great book.

This is an incredibly comprehensive guide to just under 400 plants and mushrooms of the Appalachian Trail. There is a color photo, description, common name, Latin name and information about where each is found and when. There are generally two plants or mushrooms to a page, and they are grouped together by their types.

While the book is thorough, interesting and extremely informative, do note that is not a foraging guide. While some plants and mushrooms are noted to be delicious or poisonous, for the most part this is not mentioned. It could still be a quite helpful identification guide for foragers double checking what they have found, though. The main focus of the book is identifying and getting to know the plants and mushrooms of the trail, and for this the book is excellent.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

The Plants of the Appalachian Trail by Dr. Kristen Wickert is a thorough, and beautifully illustrated book. This book covers close to 400 species of plants. Including trees,herbs,shrubs, vines, fungi, lichens, etc. Each plant has a full color picture, and a complete description of habitat, and its uses. This is a long trail with various climates and topography. I found this book both beautiful and interesting. I think this book would interest a wide variety of people.

Having followed the author on IG for many years now, I've come to appreciate her in-depth posts and explanations about eastern US and Appalachian species. I was delighted to see she had written this book and I think it is a much needed update to some of the older field guides out there for the AT. I especially appreciated the addition of fungi and lichens. A wonderful book to have on hand for a thru-hike, maybe in a bounce box, or for reading through on your return trip home. Or keep it handy for weekend excursions.

4 ⭐️
Perfect for its intended use, which is identifying native plant life along the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). It is lightweight for hiking mobility, and therefore understandably not super in-depth. But it’s also a great reference for those visiting or living near the respective regions that want a quick reference guide, which is why I was interested.

🌸 This guide focuses mainly on the flower, leaf, stem and fruits of various native flora, fauna and fungi, and as the author points out, it is NOT meant to be used for foraging.

🗺️ It distinguishes separate eco regions along the A.T., which stretches across 14 states, from GA to ME. Each featured plant includes a real photo, which respective sections along the A.T. it can be found, the various colors it comes in, and the times of year it would fruit.

🍄 I especially loved the tree, fern and mushroom identifiers. There some interesting plants in my region that I haven’t yet come across and am now curious to see.

💡It would be an awesome addition if this guide also offered a checklist that hikers could check off as they come across the plant, making it an engaging scavenger hunt to do along the extremely long A.T. hiking journey. Just an idea, perhaps as a free download with purchase of this guide.

Thanks to NetGalley, Timber Press, and Dr. Kristen Wickert for providing me with a complimentary ARC to review!

The Plants of the Appalachian Trail by Dr. Kristen Wickert is a guide designed for hikers along this incredible part of the world and I was utterly immersed in it all evening. It will likely be a book I refer to over and over again, not just for the different species, but for reference about the different area's of the trail

The book is really well laid out, beautifully written, engaging and full of stunning pictures and illustrations. It will appeal to a wide range of people, from the intended audience of Hikers, but also botanists, biologists and arborists (I tested it with my other who is an arborist and he was enchanted, so there's a win!)

A simply stunning book and highly recommended for anyone who loves the natural world

Thank you very much to Netgalley and especially Timber Press and Dr Kristen Wickert for this gifted ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own