Nature guide has a voice all its own By GREG LANGLEY Books editor I used to love to follow my grandfather around our farm in Tennessee, especially on trips in the woods to hunt or cut wood. My grandfather could name every plant and tree that grew on our place, and that was a lot of plants since we lived in the Cumberland Mountains, an area renowned for its plant diversity. Not only could my grandfather identify all the plants, he could tell you how you could use them. "That's fever weed," he'd tell me, pointing out a small, low-growing weedy plant. "You can make a tea with that that's good to break a fever." My grandmother's brother was a college-educated botanist, but he never found my grandfather in error in any of his plant identifications. Not everyone had a grandfather like that or open woods to use as a classroom. But I always felt I was learning more than just the names of plants when I went with my grandfather on a tramp through the woods. I get the same feeling reading a new book by Charles Allen, Dawn Allen Newman and Harry H. Winters. Trees, Shrubs, And Woody Vines Of Louisiana (Allen's Nature Ventures, $20 softcover). Charles Allen is a retired professor of biology who taught at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Newman, his daughter, holds a master's degree in botany. Winters is a retired physician who used to practice in Columbia. A somewhat eclectic collection of authors, one might observe, and a group with a decided lean toward academia. You might expect them to produce a dry, scientific tome. Not so. Right at the beginning there is a delightful list of colloquialisms, jokes and jibes which includes such gems as "How do you catch a unique rabbit? Unique up on it," and "How do you catch a tame rabbit? Tame way, unique up on it," and "Never make small forecasts, especially about the future," and "Don't dig your grave with your knife and fork," and "Never go to a doctor whose house plants have died." And many more. Then there's a tree zodiac, which tells you about your personality according to your "birth tree." I found I was a poplar tree, fittingly, the state tree of Tennessee. By the time you get to the descriptions of the trees, plants and vines, you'll have a smile on your face and will have realized the authors don't take themselves too seriously. But their subject matter is a different story. They offer short, concise and factual descriptions of each tree or plant, including detailed descriptions of the leaves, bark and, yes, uses of the tree or plant. The range of the plant in Louisiana is defined. You might be surprised to know that a plant like the altitude loving Mountain Laurel actually occurs naturally in at least one Louisiana parish (Washington). What can you do with Mountain Laurel? "The wood is used for making woodenware articles, pipes, handles, and fuel. The leaves have been used medicinally, in internal treatment of diarrhea and syphilis, and in external treatment of skin diseases. The leaves are poisonous to sheep or cattle; seem to be eaten by white-tailed deer in small quantities with impunity, but are toxic in large amounts. Records also exist concerning human fatalities from Kalmia honey. At one time, the burls were tried as a replacement for Italian briar for pipes but the taste was not favorable and the attempt was dropped." That's the kind of detail that field guides don't offer. There is a short guide to botany and plant classification at the beginning of the book. The only drawback to the book is the lack of color illustrations. That would have been a nice addition, but the strength of this book is its comprehensiveness (400 species with black-and-white illustrations of most), its organization (alphabetized instead of grouped by plant families), its range (just Louisiana) and its voice (almost like listening to somebody's grandpa). I want to keep this one for hikes with my kids. You can get your own copy and play grandpa by sending $Use url or email to get price shipping to Allen's Native Ventures, 5070 Highway 399, Pitkin, LA 70605. The book can be ordered on the Internet at http://www.native ventures.net, or e-mail Allen at <A HREF="mailto:native@camtel.net,"> native@camtel.net,</A> or just call 337-328-2252.