Listed here are some recommended guides to Arizona wildflowers and plants. If you are only looking for just one or two books, check out the books listed below as my favorites. I own and regularly use them to help me identify the plants that I find here in southeastern Arizona.
Edible and Medicinal Plant Books
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- Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West
- Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert
- Gathering the Desert
- Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest
- Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest: The Definitive Guide
- Los Remedios: Traditional Herbal Remedies of the Southwest
- Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West: A Guide to Identifying, Preparing, and Using Traditional Medicinal Plants
- Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West
My Favorite Arizona Wildflower and Plant Books
- Arizona Wildflowers: A Year-Round Guide to Nature's Blooms – This beautiful book is especially dear to me because some of my very own photos are included in it.
- Plants of Arizona – This guide features color photographs of 850 species of Arizona plants. I've found this book to be a great resource, and a well-worn copy of it sits next to my computer.
- Sonoran Desert Wildflowers – If you want just one good field guide to the wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert, I recommend this book. It features color photos and descriptions of over 300 Sonoran Desert wildflower species. I have observed many (but not all) of the profiled species.
- Weeds of the West – This is by far my favorite weed book, and it has descriptions and multiple color photographs (many of which are full-page) of over 350 common weed species.
Other Good Arizona Wildflower and Plant Books
- 70 Common Cacti of the Southwest
- Cacti of the Desert Southwest
- Flowers of the Southwest Deserts
- Flowers of the Southwest Mountains
- Manual of the Grasses of the United States Volume 2
- One Hundred Desert Wildflowers of the Southwest
- Shrubs & Trees of the Southwest Deserts
- Shrubs and Trees of the Southwest Uplands
- Woody Plants of the Southwest: A Field Guide With Descriptive Text, Drawings, Range Maps, and Photographs