This magnificent compendium is the fourth in a series of catalogues describing selections of rare books and other material in the Oak Spring Garden Library, a collection assembled by Mrs. Rachel "Bunny" Lambert Mellon. Herbaria describes sixty-three books and manuscripts about herbs and includes exquisite illustrations selected from the works themselves. Spanning the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries, and featuring works by Brunfels, Culpeper, Monardes, and Linnaeus, among others, this authoritative catalogue will prove fascinating to botanists, bibliophiles, garden historians, and herbalists alike.

This is a comprehensive study of forest soils for foresters, wildlife and park managers, ecologists, and others interested in forest soils. It provides a valuable text for introductory and more advanced courses. The first ten chapters deal with basic soil information: texture, structure, and porosity; colour, temperature, and aeration; water; organic content; biological organisms and processes; chemistry; fertility; classification; and surveys. The last six chapters consider the components of the forest soil systems as related processes, discussing roots, fire, and water and nutrient cycles as they exist in natural forests and as they are modified by man. Professor Armson examines the process of forest soil development, and the place of soil as a part of a continuously changing landscape from both the historical and ecological viewpoints. An appendix describes the procedures for soil profile description and sampling. Full bibliographical references are supplied.

This new title in the Crossbill Guides covers the well-known region of Dordogne in southwestern France. Like all other Crossbill Guides, this title poses and answers two key questions: what makes this area so special and how you can experience this uniqueness for yourself. This book describes the flora and fauna, landscape and traditional land use of this region plus 21 detailed routes and around 50 sites with specific suggestions on where and how to find the birds, wildlife and flora. The Dordogne area in south-west France has a remarkable range of wild landscapes. The beautiful rivers include tidal sections, marshes, cliffs and upland tributary streams set amongst limestone-dominated hills. Elsewhere diverse woodlands, hay meadows, caves, heathlands, arable plateaux plus ancient vineyards and villages also offer visitors great wildlife experiences in what has been called 'the cradle of mankind'.

Begin to Identify Mushrooms with This Great Visual Guide for Idaho, Oregon, and Washington! Mushrooming is a popular and rewarding pastime-and it's one that you can enjoy with the right information at hand. Mushrooms of the Northwest is the field guide to get you started. The region-specific book utilizes an innovative, user-friendly format that can help you identify mushrooms by their visual characteristics. Hundreds of full-color photographs are paired with easy-to-understand text, providing the details to give you confidence in the field. The information, written by foraging experts Teresa Marrone and Drew Parker, is accessible to beginners but useful for even experienced mushroom seekers. Learn about more than 400 species of common wild mushrooms found in the Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The species (from Morel Mushrooms to Shelf Mushrooms) are organized by shape, then by color, so you can identify them by their visual characteristics. Plus, with the Top Edibles and Top Toxics sections, you'll begin to learn which are the edible wild mushrooms and which to avoid. Get this field guide, jam-packed with information, and start identifying the mushrooms you find.

Flora of the Outer Hebrides is the first comprehensive publication to describe the flowering plants and ferns of the Outer Hebrides, comprising over 700 species. Introductory chapters cover the climate, geography, geology, soils, vegetation and botanical history of the area. Every effort has been made to give Gaelic names for plants, and a chapter is devoted to Gaelic plant folklore. This is a reprint edition of the book first published in 1994 (ISBN 0113100477).

St(r)phen RostainOCOs book is a culmination of 25 years of research on the extensive human modification of the wetlands environment of Guiana and how it reshapes our thinking of ancient settlement in lowland South America and other tropical zones. Rostain demonstrates that populations were capable of developing intensive raised-field agriculture, which supported significant human density, and construct causeways, habitation mounds, canals, and reservoirs to meet their needs. The work is comparative in every sense, drawing on ethnology, ethnohistory, ecology, and geography; contrasting island Guiana with other wetland regions around the world; and examining millennia of pre-Columbian settlement and colonial occupation alike. RostainOCOs work demands a radical rethinking of conventional wisdom about settlement in tropical lowlands and landscape management by its inhabitants over the course of millennia.

Designed to aid in the identification of over 4250 cultivated trees, shrubs and climbers of the world, this reference guide provides easy-to-access photographic information on a vast range of plants. The guide briefly descibes each genus, providing details of the country of origin, climatic preference, planting use and propogation method. Photographs of relevant species for that genus are shown along with a brief text giving their common name or names and typical characteristics and growth habits. All the plants are listed in alphabetical order by genus.

The story of seeds, in a nutshell, is a tale of evolution. With "An Orchard Invisible", Jonathan Silvertown presents the oft-ignored seed with the natural history it deserves, one nearly as varied and surprising as the earth's flora itself. In a clear and engaging style, he delves into the science of seeds: How and why do some lie dormant for years on end? How did seeds evolve? The wide variety of uses that humans have developed for seeds of all sorts also receives a fascinating look, studded with examples, including foods, oils, perfumes, and pharmaceuticals. An able guide with an eye for the unusual, Silver-town is happy to take readers on unexpected - but always interesting - tangents, from Lyme disease to human color vision to the Salem witch trials. But he never lets us forget that the driving force behind the story of seeds - its theme, even - is evolution, with its irrepressible habit of stumbling upon new solutions to the challenges of life.

"Beautiful, useful, inspirational" BBC Wildlife Book of the Month "A delight on every page" Evening Standard In 1664, the horticulturist and diarist John Evelyn wrote Sylva, the first comprehensive study of British trees. It was also the world's earliest forestry book, and the first book ever published by the Royal Society. Evelyn's elegant prose has a lot to tell us today, but the world has changed dramatically since his day. Now authors Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet, taking inspiration from the original work, have masterfully created a contemporary version - The New Sylva. The result is a fabulous resource that describes all of the most important species of tree that populate our landscape. Silvologist Gabriel Hemery explains what trees really mean to us culturally, environmentally and economically in the first part of the book. These chapters are followed by forty-four detailed tree portrait sections that describe the history and the features of trees such as oak, elm, beech, hornbeam, willow, fir, pine, juniper, plane, apple and pear. The pages of The New Sylva are brought to life with truly breathtaking artwork from artist and co-author Sarah Simblet, who captures the delicacy, strength and beauty of the trees through the seasons in 200 exquisite drawings. With an interplay of black and red type on creamy paper, The New Sylva recalls all the charm of traditional bookmaking. And at a moment when it is vitally important for us to rediscover how to treasure our trees, the time for this visionary, beautiful book is now. This edition comes with illustrated endpapers and a ribbon marker.

Orchids of South Africa is the first field guide to local orchids to be published in over 30 years, and presents the more than 450 orchid species found in the region, including Lesotho and Swaziland.

A comprehensive roundup of orchids in their natural habitat, the book features:

- multiple photos for each species

- distribution maps

- flowering time-bars

- succinct text, enabling sure identification of these fascinating plants.

An illustrated introduction discusses orchid structure, ecology and conservation status.

Informative, colourful and easy-to-use, Orchids of South Africa is the authoritative update enthusiasts have been waiting for.

Your Quick Guide to Identifying Wildflowers Beautiful, colorful wildflowers might catch your eye at the cabin, in the park, or on a hike. Now you can identify your favorites by name. When you're out and about, keep Wildflowers of the South & Southeast close at hand. Written by acclaimed nature author Jaret C. Daniels, this convenient guide showcases more than 150 species of wildflowers found in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Designed for ease of use, the tabbed booklet is organized by color for simple identification. Do you see a purple flower and don't know what it is? Open the "Blue to Purple" tab, and view photographs of just a few wildflowers at a time. The detailed pictures with key markings help to ensure positive ID for even casual observers. The pocket-sized format is much easier to use than laminated foldouts, and the tear-resistant pages help to make the booklet durable. So bring this lightweight quick guide along on your next hike, camping trip, or neighborhood walk, and improve your identification skills with every wildflower sighting.

In Walking with Trees, Glennie Kindred takes us on an intimate and profoundly connecting walk with thirteen of our native trees. She leads us into their worlds and opens our hearts to their wonders, their qualities and their potential to heal. This is a book about relationships and inter-relationships: Our relationship with the trees, their relationships with each other and with the natural world around them, and the flow of our communal relationship, past and present, which affects us all as the web of life on Earth. Illustrated with the authors exquisite pencil drawings, Glennie's passion for trees is infectious, and inspires us to look more closely, listen more intently and walk with trees more often. She shares her stories and encounters with trees and weaves together many ways to deepen our engagement with them, from growing them, harvesting and using them for medicine, food, and craftwork. She also encourages us to find our way into a more subtle and intuitive relationship with the trees, as part of our journey to heal our fractured relationship with the Earth. As with all of Glennie's books, the seasonal cycles and the Earth festivals are interwoven and provide further ways to deepen our journey with trees. This is a book about possibilities, for those who care for our environment. This is a book that reminds you of what you might have missed or forgotten, and reminds you of your power. This is a book of our time, where we recognise our deep interconnectivity with the trees, with all of life and with the Earth herself. It inspires us to open our arms and hearts wide, and joyfully embrace the changes.

This new book by Sierra expert Elizabeth Wenk includes photos and descriptions of approximately 300 species of wildflowers and flowering shrubs in the High Sierra. Focused on areas above 8,000 feet in elevation from Yosemite south through the Whitney Region, by restricting the collection of species to higher elevations, the book can include all commonly seen species and nearly half of all higher elevation species in a compact guide. Make plant identification more approachable to hikers, this book differentiates between species using features easily identifiable to a non-botanist. Descriptions include the species' common and scientific names, family name, growth form, flowering time, elevation range, region, specific locations on popular trails, and how to identify the plant using color, petal number, leaf shape, height, and more.

From the author of The History of the World in 100 Animals, a BBC Radio Four Book of the Week, comes an inspirational new book that looks at the 100 plants that have had the greatest impact on humanity, stunningly illustrated throughout. As humans, we hold the planet in the palms of ours hands. But we still consume the energy of the sun in the form of food. The sun is available for consumption because of plants. Plants make food from the sun by the process of photosynthesis; nothing else in the world can do this. We eat plants, or we do so at second hand, by eating the eaters of plants. Plants give us food. Plants take in carbon dioxide and push out oxygen: they give us the air we breathe, direct the rain that falls and moderate the climate. Plants also give us shelter, beauty, comfort, meaning, buildings, boats, containers, musical instruments, medicines and religious symbols. We use flowers for love, we use flowers for death. The fossils of plants power our industries and our transport. Across history we have used plants to store knowledge, to kill, to fuel wars, to change our state of consciousness, to indicate our status. The first gun was a plant, we got fire from plants, we have enslaved people for the sake of plants. We humans like to see ourselves as a species that has risen above the animal kingdom, doing what we will with the world. But we couldn't live for a day without plants. Our past is all about plants, our present is all tied up with plants; and without plants there is no future. From the mighty oak to algae, from cotton to coca here are a hundred reasons why.

An evocative and richly illustrated exploration of flowers and how, over the centuries, they have given us so much sustenance, meaning, and pleasure "From the meaning of carnations in Sex and the City to the use of sunflowers in the cleanup of Chernobyl, from Henry VIII's ban on saffron dye in Ireland to the modernist reinventions of roses, this is no ordinary flower book, and Kasia Boddy is no ordinary writer."-Ali Smith, author of Spring "Fresh, novel . . . and unclassifiable."-Publishers Weekly The bright yellow of a marigold and the cheerful red of a geranium, the evocative fragrance of a lotus or a saffron-infused paella-there is no end of reasons to love flowers. Ranging through the centuries and across the globe, Kasia Boddy looks at the wealth of floral associations that has been passed down in perfumes, poems, and paintings; in the design of buildings, clothes, and jewelry; in songs, TV shows, and children's names; and in nearly every religious, social, and political ritual. Exploring the first daffodils of spring and the last chrysanthemums of autumn, this is also a book about seasons. In vibrant detail and drawing on a rich array of illustrations, Boddy considers how the sunflower, poppy, rose, lily-and many others-have given rise to meaning, value, and inspiration throughout history, and why they are integral to so many different cultures.

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mushrooms is indispensable to anyone fascinated by mushrooms and other fungi. Lavishly illustrated, it contains detailed information about 420 types of mushrooms and other fungi found in the United States and Europe. The comprehensive introduction provides general information on the structure, reproduction, life cycles, classification, and distribution of the various species and describes the individual parts of the fungus as well. The entries describe the appearance, habitat, and geographic distribution of each species of fungi. The easy-to-use visual key provides each entry with immediately recognizable symbols that indicate spore color, ecological environment, and whether the species is edible or poisonous. A glossary and analytical index, plus an Index to Genera for locating particular subjects, help make this the most beautiful, valuable, and authoritative book in the field.

A passionate and informative celebration of trees and of man's ingenuity in exploiting their resources: the perfect gift for anyone who cares about the natural world.

Trees are marvels of nature, still-standing giants of extraordinary longevity. In a beautifully written sequence of essays, anecdotes and profiles of Britain's best-loved species (from yew to scots pine), Max Adams explores both the amazing biology of trees and humanity's relationship with wood and forest across the centuries.

Embellished with images from John Evelyn's classic Sylva (1664), The Wisdom of Trees a gift book that will delight anyone who cares about the natural world and our interaction with it.

An essential guide to every species of tree found in the British Isles outside of arboretums This easy-to-use guide covers the 360 species of tree that are found in Britain & Ireland. Each species is covered in detail with information on how to identify, whether from a leaf, twig, bark or whole tree, plus extra information on where the tree grows (including a map), how high they grow, what uses the tree is used for and its unique history. Every species is also comprehensively illustrated with photographs of every useful feature - bark, leaf, seed, flower, twig and whole tree. Sample identification section: Silver Birch Betula pendula (Betulaceae) height to 26m A slender, fast-growing deciduous tree with a narrow, tapering crown when young and growing vigorously. Older trees acquire a weeping habit, especially if growing in an open, uncrowded situation.

This book has been produced with the aim of stimulating the general naturalist to take a closer look at the bumps and lumps that make up the fascinating world of plant galls. Induced by a variety of insects and other organisms and ranging from tiny pimples to bizarre and often very attractive and exquisitely sculptured growths, plant galls are mystery to many people, but they offer a fascinating field of study for both botanists and zoologists. Galls can be found on a very wide range of both woody and herbaceous plants, with over 50 different kinds occurring on Britain's oak trees alone, and there is still much to be learned about even the commonest examples.An introduction to the nature of plant galls and their formation Brief descriptions of some of the organisms that cause or induce galls Superb photographs of just over 200 of the commonest or most conspicuous of Britain's 1,000 or so plant galls, arranged according to their host plants to aid field identification Descriptions of these galls and the life histories of the organisms that cause them

South Africa has a rich flora of around 19 000 different wildflower species. For those who wish to know more about South Africa's wildflowers this very richness poses its own problems. Most flower guides cover little more than small stretches of the country and the others include too few species to be of much use. Photo Guide to the Wildflowers of South Africa aims to overcome these deficiencies. Carefully conceived to cover those wildflowers that are most likely to attract attention, this countrywide guide includes nearly 900 of the most common and conspicuous wildflowers that occur in South Africa and the neighbouring countries of Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia. The English edition has been fully updated to reflect recent taxonomic changes. This book is now also for the first time available in Afrikaans. An easy-to-use format divides the country into three main wildflower regions, Grassland and Savannah, Fynbos and Namaqualand, grouping the species into each region. Each of the almost 900 species is illustrated and described, with information on its common and scientific names, habitat, distribution map, flowering times and local uses. An ingenious quick guide helps the reader to narrow down the options at a glance. Similar species are placed together to aid comparison and the concise text highlights their differences. Authored and illustrated by professionals with wide experience in producing guidebooks, Photo Guide to the Wildflowers of South Africa is the key to unlocking South Africa's wildflower heritage.

With the surging interest in foraging for mushrooms, those new to the art need a reliable guide to distinguishing the safe fungi from the toxic. But for beginner foragers who just want to answer the question "Can I eat it?", most of the books on the subject are dry, dense, and written by mycologists for other mycologists. Frank Hyman to the rescue! How to Forage for Mushrooms without Dying is the book for anyone who walks in the woods and would like to learn how to identify just the 29 edible mushrooms they're likely to come across. In it, Hyman offers his expert mushroom foraging advice, distilling down the most important information for the reader in colorful, folksy language that's easy to remember when in the field. Want an easy way to determine if a mushroom is a delicious morel or a toxic false morel? Slice it in half - "if it's hollow, you can swallow," Hyman says. With Frank Hyman's expert advice and easy-to-follow guidelines, readers will be confident in identifying which mushrooms they can safely eat and which ones they should definitely avoid.

Sasol First Field Guide to Aloes of Southern Africa provides fascinating insight into the aloes of the region.

Full-colour photographs , distribution maps and easy-to-read text will help the budding naturalist to identify the more common aloes found in southern African gardens and landscapes, discover where they occur, and learn about their unique features.

"This monumental work, describing 1231 species of woody plants, with 1240 illustrations, is an incredible achievement in the history of natural science publishing. It is an immense production, indispensable to naturalists of the region." --American Forests Covering Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of the Southwest has come to be regarded as the definitive study of these plants.

Sasol Eerste Veldgids tot Bome van Suider-Afrika bied ’n fassinerende blik op die bome van die subkontinent. Met behulp van volkleurfoto's en verspreidingskaarte, asook maklik leesbare teks, sal die beginner en ontluikende natuurliefhebber die meer algemene bome in Suider-Afrika kan identifiseer, kan vasstel waar hulle groei, en meer te wete kom oor hul unieke eienskappe.