Tree Bark: A Color Guide

By Hugues Vaucher and James E. Eckenwalder

How often do we overlook bark, a frequently beautiful and always important part of the plant, focusing instead on leaves, flowers, and the shape of the trunk and branches? Hugues Vaucher, a Swiss watchmaker with a lifelong fondness for trees and an eye for detail, illustrates the rich variety of colors, patterns, and textures of bark with more than 550 photographs in "Tree Bark: A Color Guide." Originally published in French and German in the early 1990s, this new Timber Press edition has been improved and expanded to include more than 440 species and varieties of trees from around the world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881925764
• ISBN13: 9780881925760
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 1.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A tree lover's delight

This book is a tree-lovers delight. It has but four chapters. The first three are short, one each on the diversity of bark, the structure of bark (with black and white illustrations), and the ethnobotany of bark. These three take up about 50 pages and are concise and informative.Chapter Four is about 200 pages in length and it comprises over 550 color photographs of bark taken mostly in Europe, North America and Australia. These are the devoted work of an enthusiast, pictures taken over many years of carefully chosen specimens. First published in Europe about a decade ago, this is the first North American presentation of a respected and well-loved book.I'm a tree person myself and I've always enjoyed lookingat the many variations of color and texture in trees of various species and ages. But this book really opened my eyes and helped me to notice and appreciate patterns and shadings I might never have noticed.Thank you, Timber Press, for bringing this book to North America.

Truly impressive

The Timber Press has been publishing gardening books for quite a few years now and appears quite devoted to turning out good-looking books. This striving for perfection is not limited to looks only but includes content: the Timber Press is perhaps the only publishing company to get the "hybrid sign" right (i.e. following the ICBN). In this book they also follow recent developments in taxonomy as concerns recent reassignments as to family. It is clear that this devoted publishing company found an author devoted to making good-looking photographs and the result is a stunning book, that will be treasured by anyone who cares about trees. It is as close to a real life viewing of the trees as I ever experienced. This book will look superb on a coffee table or on a reference shelf. It will make a great gift to just about anybody. Let's hope this splendid overview of a neglected aspect of trees is not an incident but a promise of many other beautiful books to come.

For people who appreciate the beauty of trees...

If you love trees, this book will provide a unique perspective -- on bark. The wonderful photographs highlight the wide variety of tree bark types and patterns. And it features some barks that are extraordinary. Whether you are landscaping a lot or want another way to identify trees as you walk through the woods, I am sure you find this book fascinating. It helped me find some new trees that I want to plant in my yard. Now, I just have to find a nursery that carries them.