How to identify natives

MNPS recommends the Montana Grasses smartphone app sold by High Country Apps

These books are useful for identifying plants:

• Plant Identification Terminology – An Illustrated Glossary by James Harris & Melinda Woolf Harris (2001). Contains almost 2000 illustrations that show what those very specific botanical terms mean.
• Botany in a Day – The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas Elpel (2013). A field guide that helps identify plant families, but not specific species.
• Here’s a grass identification poster

These books are useful for identifying Montana native plants:

• Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, 2nd edition, by Peter Lesica (2022). The definitive source MNPS uses for identifying our native flora, illustrated with line drawings. (Click here for errata list)
• Vascular Plants of Montana by Robert Dorn (1984). An older publication, well regarded, written in the style of a plant key.