The Plants of Acadia National Park by Glen H. Mittelhauser

The beauty is in the details: “Monday, December 7, 2009. It’s a book of observations embedded in narratives and narratives embedded in observations, in the form of journal entries embedded in essays, and little essays embedded in journal entries. She ruminates on dog sledding, the moon, learning to ski, ice underfoot, growing old, God, work, writing, reading (e.g., Down East novelist Robert Froese’s “The Hour of Blue”), the Ice Storm of ’98, snowfall, saunas and more.

Her writings are at their best when she’s capturing the crisp, concrete details, and “Maine in Winter” is full of beautiful passages on the dark and light of our fabled snow season. Dorman Resource Publications/Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 2021 148 pages, paperback, $15.

Mittelhauser, of Gouldsboro, is executive director of Maine Natural History Observatory and an author, in addition to “Wildflowers of Maine Islands” and “Plants of Acadia,” of “Grasses and Rushes of Maine” and “Sedges of Maine.” All are available from University of Maine Press. Many, maybe most of the wildflowers you see while rummaging around in fields and woodsides here on the mainland will be present in “Wildflowers of Maine Islands,” though, so this book is a great resource not just for islanders, but for anybody hunting flowers within scent of salt water, and farther inland yet. Lupines, which will light up fields all around Waldo County in a couple of months, are “rare” on the islands. Queen Anne’s lace, which I would have said is basically a ubiquitous flower in Maine, is characterized as “uncommon” on the Down East islands. Indeed, a look through the book reveals some startling variations, at least to me. The cold Labrador current affects habitats differently than do the waters southwest of Muscongus Bay, Mittelhauser says, creating differences in the wildflower populations on the islands. “Wildflowers of Maine Islands” provides the same basic design and clear photos, and zeroes its geographic coverage to the islands off Knox, Waldo, Hancock and Washington counties. Now UMaine Press has released another guide by one of that book’s authors, Glen Mittelhauser. One of the best field guides to wildflowers I’ve used every summer for years is University of Maine Press’s “The Plants of Acadia National Park,” partly because its photos so clearly depict each plant and flower, and partly because its key system is so easy to use.

The Plants of Acadia National Park by Glen H. Mittelhauser