British Water Plants

British Water Plants is an AIDGAP identification guide to all the larger native and naturalised plants found in still and flowing fresh water. Coverage includes true aquatics, emergents, and the aquatic forms of species normally found out of water. The identification keys use non-flowering features, so users can recognise and name water plants throughout the year. A separate and additional key covers the commoner species found only in rivers. Concise species accounts cover each plant’s ecology. There is also a series of full-page drawings showing the natural habit of growth of most of the species.

This water plants guide is part of the FSC’s AIDGAP series (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants). The aim of the AIDGAP series is to produce accessible keys suitable for non-specialists from sixth-form age upwards. Although written and edited by specialists, all AIDGAP guides undergo extensive field tests in draft form before final publication. Accurate identification of specimens is an important part of biological fieldwork. Since 1976, the AIDGAP project has published over 40 straightforward and clearly written identification keys to different groups. In many cases, the AIDGAP volume is still the only non-technical work covering the taxa in question.

First published in 1976, this guide is a favourite of generations of botanists. For the 2019 edition, the scientific and common names have been fully updated to follow Clive Stace's New Flora of the British Isles (4th edition).