May Theilgaard Watts (1893–1975)
Author of Tree Finder: A Manual for Identification of Trees by Their Leaves
About the Author
Image credit: Morton Arboretum
Works by May Theilgaard Watts
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Watts, May Theilgaard
- Other names
- Watts, May Petrea Theilgaard
- Birthdate
- 1893-05-01
- Date of death
- 1975-08-20
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Chicago
- Occupations
- naturalist
scientist
illustrator
writer
columnist
television host - Short biography
- May Theilgaard was born in Chicago, Illinois to a family of Danish immigrants. Her father was a landscape designer, and she studied botany and ecology at the University of Chicago, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1918.
She also attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She taught in the Chicago public schools before marrying Raymond Watts. In 1940, she went to work as a staff naturalist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, a position she held for 20 years. She wrote scholarly articles and wrote and illustrated popular tree and flower identification guides still in use today. Her 1957 book Reading the Landscape was used by educators for decades. She wrote a similar volume called Reading the Landscape of Europe. She wrote "Nature Afoot," a regular column for the Chicago Tribune, and hosted an educational program on public television.
She also led efforts to establish the Illinois Prairie Path, one of the first successful abandoned rail-to-trail conversions in the USA. The May T. Watts Nature Park in Highland Park, Illinois, and the May Watts Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois, are named after her. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Burial location
- Naperville Cemetery, Naperville, Illinois, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Illinois, USA
Members
Reviews
I felt I was being tutored by someone with an exceptionally keen understanding of nature and peoples relationship with it. The history of our understanding of the Pitcher Plant was especially fascinating. Other highlights for me were her explanation of the ecology of the sand dunes and the bogs, plus the poor plight of "The Stylish House". I did lose some of my momentum as a reader as she traveled from the eastern United States to the western, but was picked back up as she entered the show more Redwoods. It would be really exciting if some top notch ecologist were to pick up her book, write a new introduction, do a few more revisits and tastefully splice some high quality photography here and there. show less
Tree Finder: A Manual for the Identification of Trees by Their Leaves (Nature Study Guides) by May Theilgaard Watts
Hardly the definitive guide, but this book is SO HANDY! It has a very good collection of the most common trees & makes it very easy for even a novice to find out the name (both common & Latin) for an unknown, native tree. Some invasives (non-native) included, but again, only the most common ones. I carry one in my truck or in my back pocket most of the time. I identify 95% of the trees I see with this or at least get a good idea of what they are. Then I can use a better reference to figure show more out the exact one. show less
On a 'Winter Tree ID Hike' at a local nature center, we were given this book to use as a reference. We practiced it & found that we could all easily identify trees with it - but it did take some time to READ, COMPREHEND & PRACTICE before we were all proficient. Some took a little longer &, in every case, it was because they tried to short cut the process. So if you're having trouble using it, go back & re-read. It's really quite easy, once you get the hang of it.
For such a small book, it show more packs a lot of trees into it - Eastern North America only. You won't find hybrids, some imports (garden) trees, but it packs in over 100 common trees & can lead anyone into a quick, accurate identification with very little practice. It's small enough to fit into a back pocket without a bulge, which means I'm more likely to have it with me when I want it. That's the biggest plus. The more comprehensive books are OK, but they're always back at the house when I need them or in the way as I walk through the woods & want to take a picture. Not this book!
I have several tree ID books & I may outgrow this one. But I haven't outgrown "The Tree Finder" by the same authors (for trees with leaves) & I've been using it for a couple of years on a pretty regular basis. Often I'll think I've found a tree that won't be in it, but there it is. It's been so worthwhile that I got a second copy to keep in the truck. show less
For such a small book, it show more packs a lot of trees into it - Eastern North America only. You won't find hybrids, some imports (garden) trees, but it packs in over 100 common trees & can lead anyone into a quick, accurate identification with very little practice. It's small enough to fit into a back pocket without a bulge, which means I'm more likely to have it with me when I want it. That's the biggest plus. The more comprehensive books are OK, but they're always back at the house when I need them or in the way as I walk through the woods & want to take a picture. Not this book!
I have several tree ID books & I may outgrow this one. But I haven't outgrown "The Tree Finder" by the same authors (for trees with leaves) & I've been using it for a couple of years on a pretty regular basis. Often I'll think I've found a tree that won't be in it, but there it is. It's been so worthwhile that I got a second copy to keep in the truck. show less
The finder is really easy to follow, and uses simple guidelines based primarily on leaf shape, placement, etc. The system is logical, and easy to use. Sometimes the illustrations can be misleading (it's easy to do maples, sassafras, and sweetgum, but oaks were trickier because of the illustrations and the many trees that have very similar leaves are really hard). Overall, however, it's a great system. It could use a little more information, but for a guide that easily fits in your purse, show more it's magic. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Members
- 1,797
- Popularity
- #14,314
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 11
- ISBNs
- 15
- Favorited
- 1
