Trees of the California Landscape

Turns out, our text book for the Tree ID class at Merritt College is a great resource for identifying trees in the landscape. Trees of the California Landscape is written by Charles R. Hatch, and published by University of California Press, Berkeley in 2007. The book is divided into three main parts – the introduction, a compendium of trees of the California Landscape, and a reference section.

• Introduction - describes the topography, geography, and climate of California. It provides information about trees in the native landscape, including information about different habitats and plant communities. It also provides information about trees in the urban landscape, including public parks and plazas, freeways, streetscapes, and residential landscape, design elements for tree selection, and lists of tree characteristics.
• Compendium - provides a list of trees, sorted by binomial name. Diagnostics for each tree are described, including leaves, flower, seeds, twigs and bark, and pictures are provided.
• Reference - includes information about taxonomy, tree structure, bark, habit, leaf veining, leaf parts, leaf types, leaf format, flower types, and fruit types. It also includes a  glossary, trees by classification and family, key to tree genera, an index to trees, an index to common names, a list of arboretums, and a bibliograhpy.

I love its clear pictures of tree forms and leaf structure. The diagnostics are also useful. I also appreciate that it recognizes non-native trees that are part of the urban landscape in the San Francisco Bay Area.