Discover plants like you've never seen them before in this beautifully-designed introduction to the plant kingdom. Discover the extraordinary diversity of the plant world and how plants work with this photographic celebration of the plants, trees and flowers that share our planet and breathe life into our lungs. The Science of Plants invites you on a breathtaking journey to explore the plant kingdom from the ground up, from root to leaf tip! Published in association with Kew, and illustrated with inspiring photography, this beautiful compilation takes you on a visual journey of some of the world's most peculiar plants and fascinating flora in exquisite detail. Throughout the pages of this plant book, you can expect to find: -Inner workings of wide range of plants explained easily with graphic detail -Galleries showcase diversity in the plant world and visually define botanical terms -Feature spreads on key plants combine dramatic photography with rounded descriptions of our most significant,unusual, and sought-after species -Optional 80-page reference section includes a catalogue of plant families and explanations of botanical names This beautiful book of plants showcases every part of each plant in detail, starting with a section on roots, stems and branches, leaves, flowers, followed by seeds. From tiny mosses and delicate ferns to vibrant blooms and stately palms, DK's elegant introduction to botany is packed with striking photos and crystal-clear artworks that explain the mechanics of photosynthesis, why leaves change colour, how cacti store water, and how seeds know when to grow. Filled with fascinating stories of how plants protect themselves from predators, and how flowers use colour and scent to interact with creatures around them, The Science of Plants is a fresh and engaging introduction to the mysterious inner workings of the plant world. A must-have volume for all plant lovers, including naturalists, budding botanists, ecologists as well as gardeners. Doubling up as the ideal gift for the plant-lover in your life, The Science of Plants is a nature book that is sure to delight. At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not explore other terrific titles in our Science Of series? Reveal the secrets of the seas with The Science of The Ocean and explore the animal kingdom like never before with The Science of Animals.

Discover a fresh new offering for your farm or orchard business Pawpaws is the first in-depth guide to small-scale commercial cultivation of pawpaws. Also known as Indiana bananas or hipster bananas, this almost forgotten fruit, native to North America, is making a huge comeback with foodies, chefs, craft brewers, and discerning fruit-lovers. Written by, and for, the organic grower, coverage includes: Botany and the cultural history of pawpaws Orchard siting and planning Choosing the best-quality nursery trees Descriptions of over 50 cultivars Propagation and organic growing tips Pests and disease management Marketing and selling fresh pawpaws, seeds, and starts Processing and producing value-added products. Get ahead of the farming curve, diversify your orchard or food forest, and discover the commercial potential of America's almost forgotten native fruit with this comprehensive manual to small-scale commercial pawpaw production.

Reverence takes on a new meaning in this original memoir of an avid gardener walking the Camino de Santiago. The Camino de Santiago has been a journey for pilgrims for more than 1,000 years, testing-to varying degrees-their spirit, faith, and physical endurance. Lyndon Penner's attention lies elsewhere. A renowned gardener and lover of literature, he revels in the plants, trees, and flowers that tell the history of the people and ecology of northern Spain. Brimming with wry observations-of nature, himself, and other pilgrims on the road- The Way of the Gardener reveals the beauty and the darkness of the human condition while underscoring the deeply fascinating nature of nature itself. This textured work makes for perfect armchair-or garden-reading.

The definitive, fully-illustrated guide to the trees of Britain and non-Mediterranean Europe. This brand-new field guide to the trees of northern Europe contains some of the finest original tree illustrations ever produced. The introduction contains illustrations of the main leaves, buds, and firs you are likely to find, and these provide the starting point for identification by leading you to a 'key' species. Within each tree family there is a list of key species and a guide to the most important features to look for when identifying a particular tree from that family. Then individual species are clearly described and a detailed illustration is given on the same page. Covering all the tree species found outside the major arboretums, from the olive tree to the eucalyptus, this is one of the most important tree guides to have appeared in the last 20 years. The illustrations are annotated with essential identification features, and the text highlights the most important things to look for to aid fast and accurate identification. There is also coverage of all the species native to Southern Europe.

Lianas (woody vines) are iconic symbols of tropical forest ecosystems around the world. Forest climbers take advantage of the biologically-expensive architecture of trees to gain relatively inexpensive access to the light-rich canopy. The evolution of a climbing habit has occurred in many unrelated plant groups using twining and clasping shoots or specialised structures such as tendrils, hooks, spines, adhesive roots, and novel stem anatomy. In recent decades, the significance of lianas to tropical forest diversity (up to 40% of species), abundance (up to 45% of stems), and forest gap dynamics has been increasingly recognised. Although they are often considered pests in commercial forestry, woody climbers are important to many traditional peoples as medicines, subsistence fibres and non-timber forest products. Largely due to the inaccessibility of their flowers and fruits, lianas and other climbers remain among the most poorly documented life-forms in the tropics. The Lianas of the Guianas Fieldguide aims to provide an overview and advance understanding of woody climber diversity in the forests of Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. The guide will facilitate learning and identification of woody climbers for specialists and non-specialists with an image-rich format, simplified terminology, a mostly vegetative family and genus key, artistic icon guides, and common names and uses. The growth-forms covered include woody lianas, subwoody lianas, liana-like hemi-epiphytes, tree-like hemi-epiphytes, and climbing shrubs. Chapters are organised alphabetically by plant family and names follow the APG III classification. Approximately 55 families, 170 genera, and 500 more common species are described in the main text, with ± 1300 species (including herbaceous climbers) in a comprehensive checklist. This is one of the first such guides to include predictive genera and species distribution model maps, with a comprehensive set of maps made available on-line. The Lianas of the Guianas Fieldguide will serve as an attractive and useful tool for those concerned with the biodiversity of the Guianan Shield and the neotropics at large. Lianas (woody vines) are iconic symbols of tropical forest ecosystems around the world. Forest climbers take advantage of the biologically-expensive architecture of trees to gain relatively inexpensive access to the light-rich canopy. The evolution of a climbing habit has occurred in many unrelated plant groups using twining and clasping shoots or specialised structures such as tendrils, hooks, spines, adhesive roots, and novel stem anatomy. In recent decades, the significance of lianas to tropical forest diversity (up to 40% of species), abundance (up to 45% of stems), and forest gap dynamics has been increasingly recognised. Although they are often considered pests in commercial forestry, woody climbers are important to many traditional peoples as medicines, subsistence fibres and non-timber forest products. Largely due to the inaccessibility of their flowers and fruits, lianas and other climbers remain among the most poorly documented life-forms in the tropics. The Lianas of the Guianas Fieldguide aims to provide an overview and advance understanding of woody climber diversity in the forests of Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. The guide will facilitate learning and identification of woody climbers for specialists and non-specialists with an image-rich format, simplified terminology, a mostly vegetative family and genus key, artistic icon guides, and common names and uses. The growth-forms covered include woody lianas, subwoody lianas, liana-like hemi-epiphytes, tree-like hemi-epiphytes, and climbing shrubs. Chapters are organised alphabetically by plant family and names follow the APG III classification. Approximately 55 families, 170 genera, and 500 more common species are described in the main text, with ± 1300 species (including herbaceous climbers) in a comprehensive checklist. This is one of the first such guides to include predictive genera and species distribution model maps, with a comprehensive set of maps made available on-line. The Lianas of the Guianas Fieldguide will serve as an attractive and useful tool for those concerned with the biodiversity of the Guianan Shield and the neotropics at large.

Joseph Banks accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage round the world from 1768 to 1771. A gifted and wealthy young naturalist, Banks collected exotic flora from Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java, bringing back over 1,300 species that had never been seen or studied by Europeans. On his return, Banks commissioned over 700 superlative engravings between 1772 and 1784. Known collectively as Banks’ Florilegium, they are some of the most precise and exquisite examples of botanical illustration ever created. The Florilegium was never published in Banks’ lifetime, and it was not until 1990 that a complete set in colour was issued in a boxed edition (limited to 100 copies) under the direction of the British Museum (Natural History). It is from these prints that the present selection is made, directed by David Mabberley, who has provided expert botanical commentaries, with additional texts by art historian Mel Gooding, setting the works in context as a perfect conjunction of nature, science and art. An afterword by Joseph Studholme describes the history of the modern printing.

With 909 recognized species of lichens, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is home to more of these lichenized fungi than any other national park in the United States, as well as nearly half of all species known to occur in eastern North America. There is a great deal of room for scientific exploration, inquiry, and systematic description in the realm of lichenology. In Field Guide to the Lichens of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Erin Tripp and James Lendemer take on the formidable task of creating an all-in-one resource for Park exploration, including lichen distribution maps, tools for identification, vivid photographs and illustrations, and even field notes from their own research campaigns. In the process, the authors create a touchstone for lichen taxonomy and ecology, and they inspire others-researchers as well as casual observers-to take interest in the incredible biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountains. Biologists, botanists, visitors to the park, naturalists, and others interested in the flora and fauna of both the southern Appalachians and GSMNP will thoroughly enjoy this lovingly prepared field guide.

Peterson

The best-selling field guides of all time

Medicinal plants are increasingly well regarded as supplements and sometimes as alternatives for prescription drugs. Steven Foster and James A. Duke have used recent advances in the study of medicinal plants and their combined experience of over 100 years to completely update the "Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. "The clear and concise text identifies the key traits, habitats, uses, and warnings for more than 530 of the most significant medicinal plants in the eastern and central United States and Canada including both native and alien species. Seven hundred plus images, the organization-by-color system, and simplified warnings make identifying medicinal plants fast and easy.

Sponsored by the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute

Southern Africa is the natural home of the richest and most diverse succulent flora in the world. These plants come in all shapes and sizes, from trees such as the baobab at more than 20 m tall, to miniature soil huggers, just a few millimetres high, which mimic their pebble-desert surroundings.

This user-friendly, richly illustrated field guide features more than 700 southern African succulents, focusing on the most interesting and commonly encountered species. An introduction to families and their key features will help readers identify the relevant plant group, while concise accounts describing the plants’ diagnostic features, along with distribution maps, will enable quick ID of species.

More than just an ID guide for plant lovers, this book will inspire gardeners who are turning to indigenous, low-maintenance and waterwise plants for cultivation.

A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. In "Wicked Plants," Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature s most appalling creations. It s an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend. You ll learn which plants to avoid (like exploding shrubs), which plants make themselves exceedingly unwelcome (like the vine that ate the South), and which ones have been killing for centuries (like the weed that killed Abraham Lincoln's mother).
Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.
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This sixth volume of the Flora of Florida collection continues the definitive and comprehensive identification manual to the Sunshine State's 4,000 kinds of native and non-native ferns and fern allies, nonflowering seed plants, and flowering seed plants. Volume VI contains the taxonomic treatments of 19 families of Florida's dicotyledons. Florida has the third most diverse vascular plant flora of any state in the United States, and the Flora of Florida volumes include all indigenous and naturalized taxa currently known to occur within its borders. With keys to family, genus, and species, and with genera and species within each family arranged alphabetically for easy reference, these volumes are the standard reference for botanists, researchers, consultants, and students alike.

A complete guide to help you safely identify edible species that grow around us, together with detailed artworks, field identification notes and recipes. First published in 1972, this updated edition of Richard Mabey's cult bestseller has been revised to reflect the ever-increasing eco-awareness and popular interest in finding different, and more natural, sources of food. Each of the 240 types of fruit, nut, flower, seaweed, fungi and shellfish featured has its own identification field notes and artwork. Understand and learn about the fascinating edible species that you may come across and, with the help of the numerous recipes also included, find out the best way to pick and enjoy them. Beautifully illustrated and written, ‘Food for Free’ will inspire you to take more notice of the natural harvest that surrounds us, learn how to make use of it and conserve it for future generations.

As climate change erodes the familiar pattern of the seasons, we turn instinctively to the life cycles of herbaceous plants to guide us through the year. The growing, flowering, seeding and dying back of wild flowers, weeds, herbs and garden perennials sustain and enrich our lives. Herbaceous is a journey which follows the colour pulse of plants through the year, looking for the new and emerging rhythms. Beginning with the bright yellow, followed by the vernal whites of spring and the pinks of summer, the blues of early autumn and finally the browns of seeds set as winter comes. Herbaceous is gardening with words - asking us to look again at our relationship with plants and celebrates their power to nourish our spirits.

This guide to common and unique plants found in forests of the Southeast thoroughly covers 330 species of forbs (herbaceous plants), grasses, vines, and shrubs, with a special emphasis on the plants' role in wildlife sustenance. Packed with detailed color photographs, the book is a must-have for forest landowners, game and wildlife managers, biologists, outdoors enthusiasts, students - anyone with an interest in the intricate and often unexpected interrelationships between the flora and fauna of our region's forests.

Even before the Hebrews passed on their legend of the tree of knowledge, humans were collecting seeds and striplings from trees for shade, to cultivate fruit, and to worship as deities of natural forces. In Shade and Ornamental Trees Hui-Lin Li traces this relationship across the continents and over time to relay an organic history of the world's civilizations.

This handy field guide is designed for use by both amateur and professional botanists, biologists, gardeners, and naturalists. The full colour field guide includes over 400 species of water and wetland plants found across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the northern United States.
Since many of the northern wetland plants are circumpolar in distribution, "Water and Wetland Plants of the Prairie Provinces" will also be useful in other parts of Canada, the United States, and Eurasia.

Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is the essential guide to Costa Rica's native and exotic plant species. In this comprehensive volume, Willow Zuchowski introduces readers to an array of the country's dazzling and diverse flora-from rainforest giants over sixty meters in height to miniature orchids with petals that measure less than one millimeter in length. Covering almost 600 species from all of Costa Rica's regions, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica includes 820 photographs and 120 black-and-white illustrations to aid in the identification of these plants. Detailed species accounts offer descriptions of the plants as well as a rich trove of information about their natural history, distribution, conservation status, potential medicinal uses, and role in human societies. This second edition-in a more compact size for easier use in the field-adds more than 100 species along with a new section focusing on the Osa Peninsula, many new photographs, and updates on scientific names. The only book on the flora of the country intended for serious and casual plant enthusiasts alike, Tropical Plants of Costa Rica is an indispensable resource for the visitor, gardener, student, and researcher.

The glorious colours and the diversity of shapes of Alpine plants delight every alpinist and hiker. Those who take time to look closer at the plants and their dwellings will be rewarded with the discovery of the interesting relationships between plants and their environment, and will enjoy their ever varying appearance and multitude of forms. This SAC guidebook helps the reader to understand the diverse aspects of plant life in the Alps. It also answers questions such as: which faraway lands the Alpine plants come from? Why is the plant cover near Zermatt different from that high up at the foot of the Eiger? How do some Alpine plants still manage to grow above 12.000 ft, when others do not even reach the treeline? To help the recognition of species, the book has 480 colour photographs, mostly taken in their natural invironment. In addition, about 75 species are presented in ink drawings. A practical fieldguide for amateur botanists, it is also an important reference work for all those with an interest in alpine plants as well as for students.

Coconuts have been around for longer than Homo sapiens; they have been turned into art, taken part in religious rituals and been a sign of wealth and success. They have saved lives, not only by providing nourishment, but also as part of the charcoal filers in First World War gas masks. It was coconuts that triggered the mutiny on the Bounty, and coconuts that saved the life of the man who went on to become the 35th President of the United States. The coconut has long been the unseen player in the endeavours of industrialists and bomb makers, physicians and silversmiths, smugglers and snake charmers. To this day, coconuts shape the lives of people around the world. At a time when coconut products crowd the shelves of supermarkets, health food shops and beauty salons, Robin Laurance looks beyond the oils and health drinks to uncover the unexpected, often surprising, and vital roles played by the coconut palm and its nut in times past and present.

Determining which family a plant belongs to is a crucial horticultural skill. Organizing plants by family provides a framework for thinking about plant characteristics and for arranging thousands of plant names in a coherent and predictive pattern. This is especially important now, as advances in DNA analysis have recently altered much of the world of botanical taxonomy. In Temperate Garden Plant Families, Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning teach readers how to identify the most horticulturally important temperate plant families. Introductory information includes an overview of family classification, plant nomenclature, and plant morphology. The comprehensive A-Z of plants includes profiles that include information on the number of species and genera, plant form, flowers, fruit, and a short description. Each profile is illustrated with colour photographs and botanical illustrations. This comprehensive identification guide is for botany and horticultural professionals, nurserymen, advanced gardeners, and students of botany and horticulture.

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.

The yew is one of the most fascinating and versatile life forms on Earth, botanically rich and intriguing, and culturally almost without comparison. In history, mythology, religion, folklore, medicine and warfare, this tree bears timeless witness to a deep relationship with mankind. Yew was the wood chosen to make some of mankind's oldest artefacts: spears, bows and musical instruments. These include items like the prehistoric spear found near Clacton, the 2,000-year-old wooden pipes from Greystones, County Wicklow and, of course, the famous medieval English longbow. In modern medicine, too, yew has proved a boon. Since 1992 taxol/paclitaxel has helped revolutionise the treatment of certain types of cancer. In botanical terms, yew is a mass of contradictions. It is a conifer which bears scarlet 'berries' with sweet juicy pulp instead of cones. It is highly poisonous in all its parts except the red fruit pulp, and yet both wild and domesticated animals feed upon it. It can live for thousands of years with the potential to renew itself. A new tree from an interior root can grow slowly within the hollow trunk of an ancient yew and centuries later 'take over' the older tree. When it come to habitat, the yew tree is nothing if not versatile. It can grown on different continents at a wide range of altitudes: from rainy Edinburgh to sultry Istanbul, from Canada to Mexico, Scandinavia to North Africa and Sumatra, Japan and the Himalayas. Fred Hageneder's fascinating book is the first to cover all aspects of the botany as well as the cultural history and mythology of the genus Taxus. This is the remarkable story of the oldest living things in Europe.