A field guide to fireworks to make you a pyrotechnic know-it-all

When you're watching a fireworks display this weekend, comments from the audience are limited to "Ooh!" followed by "Ahh!" You might say, "That's a pretty one," if you're being particularly profound.

But you could be one to provide expert color commentary to the spectacle with the help of our field guide. We enlisted Paul Smith, president of the Pyrotechnics Guild International, to describe the most common types of fireworks. On July 4th, you can be a smarty-pants and inform friends, family and nearby strangers about the difference between a chrysanthemum or a peony shell.

Peony: A spherical explosion of colored stars, one of the most common shell types.

Chrysanthemum: Similar to the peony, but the stars leave a trail of sparks as they expand.

Willow: A circular group of glowing stars that fall toward the ground in an umbrella shape, resembling a giant willow tree in the sky.

Spider: Bigger than a willow, but it has fewer stars that shoot apart in widely spaced straight lines and then fall to the ground, resembling the legs of a spider.

Palm: Similar to a spider, but in addition to the light-trailing stars that create the leaves of the palm tree, there's also a rising comet of light that forms the tree's trunk.

Salute: If you see an intense flash of light, followed by a big boom, that's called a salute.

Fish: A swarm of stars that shoot apart in a wriggling motion, resembling swimming fish.

Comet: A solid glowing star leaving a long trail in the air. You may see multiple comets going up at the same time.

Crossette: An explosion with stars that crisscross, forming a cross or grid pattern.