In message , K
writes
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
I suspect that you would find that our approaches are not all that
different. (What I didn't mention was that after referring to Stace I
went to Google Image Search to confirm the appearance of the plant.)

So did I ;-)

My preferred references for identification at the moment are Garward
and Streeter (illustrations and field marks)

Is that the Collins one?

No - coffee table size book published by Midsummer Press, bought from a
remainder book shop.

and Sterry (photographs, field marks and portable, but lacking
complete coverage).

Sterry I've seen but didn't like, but not sure why

Sterry is the (a?) Collins publication.

In the case of Saxifraga cymbalaria, I don't think I have any works
which illustrate it.

It's illustrated in Fitter, Fitter and Blamey. That's the fat one,
which also covers grasses and ferns. It's drawings, which I like -
Margaret Blamey is quite good at getting all the key features, if you
screw your eyes up and peer closely (it helps to be short-sighted). And
it has distribution maps, which is a cheating way of narrowing down the
search!

For photos, I've got some of the little books by Roger Philips, all
sadly out of print now and very hard to come by.

I'd forgotten I had a copy of Philip's Wild Flowers of Britain. It's in

I can be wrong as well - working from the manuals only works if you
start in the right place.

:-)

That's my trouble with keys. I know the genus and can work straight
from the genus key I'm fine. But if I haven't a clue even as to family,
starting from the main key I find very tough.

And, I'm slowly training myself to identify plants in the field.

It is slow, isn't it? You can't go at it all at once (ie identify all
the flowers in the little patch of land you're standing on), as there's
too much to learn. For most things I'm confident only to genus level,
and am trying to extend it by looking at the weeds in our garden -
spent most of yesterday lunchtime peering at a forget-me-not with a
hand lens.

I think I've just cracked the difference between Myosotis arvensis and
Myosotis sylvatica which leaves the other terrestrial species around
here as Myosotis ramosissima. My alternative to a hand lens is a macro
photograph, but it doesn't always focus properly.

Part of the knack is learning to see differences between plants and to
use more traits than just the flowers. (Fruits are useful with trefoils
and crucifers.) Another technique is learning field marks, which is why
books with field marks are handy.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley