'Blanc set about the most thorough apple-tasting and cooking project I have heard of . . . [The Lost Orchard] condenses the highlights, his love letters to the forgotten apple breeds.' The Times 'I began to dream about an orchard filled with thousands of fruit trees... Today we have an orchard with over 150 ancient varieties of apple. Each one has its heritage in a village or a county that used to thrive on that particular variety. They tell the story not only of what we have lost in Britain but also what we could regain.' Over the past seven years, Raymond Blanc has planted an orchard of 2,500 trees in the grounds of his hotel-restaurant in Oxfordshire. Yielding about 30 tonnes of fruit for his kitchen each year, it is full of ancient and forgotten varieties of British apples and pears, along with walnut trees, quince, medlars, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, damsons and cherries. A further 600 heritage fruit trees have been added from Raymond's home region of Franche-Comté in France. The Lost Orchard is a love letter to each of these varieties, complete with beautiful black and white drawings, photographs of Belmond Le Manoir and fascinating information and anecdotes about each fruit, along with recipes and stories.

While there are many studies of the global influence of crops and plants, this is perhaps the first social history based around a plant in South Africa. Plants are not quite historical actors in their own right, but their properties and potential help to shape human history. Plants such as prickly pear tend to be invisible to those who do not use them, or at least on the peripheries of people's consciousness. This book explains why they were not peripheral to many people in the Eastern Cape and why a wild and sometimes invasive cactus from Mexico, that found its way around the world over 200 years ago, remains important to African women in shacks and small towns. The central tension at the heart of this history concerns different and sometimes conflicting human views of prickly pear. Some accepted or enjoyed its presence; others wished to eradicate it. While commercial livestock farmers initially found the plant enormously valuable, they came to see it as a scourge in the early twentieth century as it invaded farms and commonages. But for impoverished rural and small town communities of the Eastern Cape it was a godsend. In some places it still provides a significant income for poor black families. Debates about prickly pear - and its cultivated spineless variety - have played out in unexpected ways over the last century and more. Some scientists, once eradicationists, now see varieties of spineless cactus as plants for the future, eminently suited to a world beset by climate change and global warming. The book also addresses central problems around concepts of biodiversity. How do we balance, on the one hand, biodiversity conservation with, on the other, a recognition that plant transfers - and species transfers more generally - have been part of dynamic production systems that have historically underpinned human civilizations. American plants such as maize, cassava and prickly pear have been used to create incalculable value in Africa. Transferred plants are at the heart of many agricultural systems, as well as hybrid botanical and cultural landscapes, sometimes treasured, that are unlikely to be entirely reversed. Some of these plants displace local species, but are invaluable for local livelihoods. Prickly Pear explores this dilemma over the long term and suggests that there must be a significant cultural dimension to ideas about biodiversity. The content of Prickly Pear is based on intensive archival research, on interviews conducted in the Eastern Cape by the authors, as well as on their observations of how people in the area use and consume the plant.

This revised and extended second edition of "Identification of tropical woody plants" is a concise representation of vegetative characters of woody taxa. It presents a unique identification system, permitting recognition of plant families in all seasons by means of morphological and macroanatomical features which are easily observable, permanent, and which provide a great deal of taxonomic information.

The identification system has been designed in the form of a dichotomous key, which is illustrated with figures of woody plants showing their architecture and the morphological characters of barks, branches and leaves. The book has been revised according to the latest molecular biological findings in taxonomy. Additional families are included, as well as representative examples on color plates. A new key for the main groups of euphorbiacean genera has been included.

This field guide will be an essential companion to botanists and ecologists.

The Botanical Bible tells the story of plants and flowers, beginning with an overview of the plant kingdom and the basics of botany, then offering strategies for gardening with purpose. Later chapters introduce seasonal eating, the healing properties of plants and the world of botanical art. This stunning gift book is part history, part science, part beauty book, part cookbook and part art book. It will appeal to anyone wanting to use plants and flowers in modern life, whether they are an accomplished gardener or are simply yearning for a more natural life. This comprehensive guide to plants, flowers and botanicals covers a host of practical uses, features vintage illustrations alongside the work of current artists, and is sure to be an inspiration to anyone interested in the natural world.

Wandering the woods in search of mushrooms is one of life's great pleasures. But be careful to pick the right ones With "Edible Mushrooms" in your backpack, you'll know to pick only the safest, most delicious chanterelles, truffles, morels, and more. Author Barbro Forsberg presents forty edible species and reveals how, when, and where to find them--knowledge gained over the course of four decades spent mushrooming in the woods.
Discover such aspects of mushrooming as:
Characteristics of edible mushrooms, per species
Cooking, cleaning, and drying the day's bounty
Edible, inedible, or toxic? Photographs and descriptions for what to pick and what to avoid
Poisonous varieties and how to recognize them
All content has been verified by a professional mycologist. Plus, nature and educational photographs illustrate how mushrooms grow, the environments where you can expect to find them, and the ways in which the same species may vary from one sample to the next. So whether you're an experienced mushroom hunter or a novice to the art, with "Edible Mushrooms" you can confidently recognize, pick, and eat the tastiest wild mushrooms.

Learn to identify New York trees with this handy field guide, organized by leaf type and attachment. With this famous field guide by award-winning author and naturalist Stan Tekiela, you can make tree identification simple, informative, and productive. There's no need to look through dozens of photos of trees that don't grow in New York. Learn about 118 species found in the state, organized by leaf type and attachment. Just look at a tree's leaves, then go to the correct section to learn what it is. Fact-filled information contains the particulars that you want to know, while full-page photographs provide the visual detail needed for accurate identification. Book Features 118 species: Every native tree plus common non-natives Easy to use: Thumb tabs show leaf type and attachment Compare feature: Decide between look-alikes Stan's Notes: Naturalist tidbits and facts Professional photos: Crisp, stunning full-page images This new edition includes updated photographs; expanded information; a Quick Compare section for leaves, needles, and silhouettes; and even more of Stan's expert insights. So grab Trees of New York Field Guide for your next outing-to help ensure that you positively identify the trees that you see.

This book is a celebration of the Shirley Sherwood Collection of contemporary botanical art, made over a period of 30 years by Dr Shirley Sherwood and considered the most important private collection of its kind in the world. In 2018 the 1000th painting was added to the collection, a pocket handkerchief by Coral Guest.

The Great Wood of Caledon - the historic native forest of Highland Scotland - has a reputation as potent and misleading as the wolves that ruled it. The popular image is of an impassable, sun-snuffing shroud, a Highlandswide jungle infested by wolf, lynx, bear, beaver, wild white cattle, wild boar, and wilder painted men. Jim Crumley shines a light into the darker corners of the Great Wood, to re-evaluate some of the questionable elements of its reputation, and to assess the possibilities of its partial resurrection into something like a national forest. The book threads a path among relict strongholds of native woodland, beginning with a soliloquy by the Fortingall Yew, the one tree in Scotland that can say of the hey-day of the Great Wood 5,000 years ago: 'I was there.' The journey is enriched by vivid wildlife encounters, a passionate and poetic account that binds the slow dereliction of the past to an optimistic future.

"A literary work with a life all its own, and without exaggeration, it is a masterpiece. . . . Far from being a simple narrative, the book discusses the incredible contribution each tree makes to the planet, where and how to plant them, and what environment they are most complementary to."
---Monika Carless, "EcoFarm & Garden"

"In prose as rich as the forest itself, Diana Beresford-Kroeger sees trees for all their attributes---as providers of clean air, clean water, food, shelter, and beauty---and places them squarely at the center of a complex web of nature that is crucial to all species including man."
---Roger C. Dower, President, Forest Stewardship Council-United States

Nothing on earth compares to the Boreal forest to maintain life on this planet. The vast primeval forest stretches across the northern regions of the world, from northern Canada and Alaska to northern Europe, Russia, China, and Japan. Boreal species can be found in cooler temperate climates everywhere, including Michigan and other cool areas of the United States, and some outliers are even found in the tropics. The circumpolar runoff from the Boreal enriches the seas with nutrients in the spring. The evergreens of the Boreal act as a passive ground coolant. And the needles of the evergreens and the trichomal hairs of the deciduous trees comb the air free of harmful minute particulate pollution.

"Arboretum Borealis" does for the northern forests of the world what Arboretum America did for the forests of North America. Diana Beresford-Kroeger further describes how each Boreal tree group relates to its natural environment and how these specific trees can be used to promote health or to counteract the effects of pollution and global warming.

"Arboretum Borealis" reveals the fascinating history of these trees in Native American culture, including their medicinal uses. Finally, Beresford-Kroeger offers practical design ideas and tips---where to plant these trees, what season they look best in, and what native plants complement them.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist; medical and agricultural researcher; lecturer; and self-defined "renegade scientist" in the fields of classical botany, medical biochemistry, organic chemistry, and nuclear chemistry. She is the author of "Arboretum America" and lives in Ontario, Canada.

Cover image by Christian H. Kroeger

Das Buch untersucht die Auswirkungen von Anderungen der Waldbewirtschaftung, derzeit vorwiegend von nadelbaumdominierten Reinbestanden in strukturierte Mischwalder. Innerhalb einer nachhaltigen und naturnahen Waldwirtschaft wird dieser Prozess als okologischer Waldumbau bezeichnet. Er wird aktuell von den offentlichen Forstverwaltungen in Deutschland und Mitteleuropa forciert.

Einleitend beschreiben die Autoren Ziele, Moglichkeiten und Erfordernisse des okologischen Waldumbaus. Basierend auf wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen werden die mit dem Waldumbau einhergehenden Probleme und die zu erwartenden Folgen unter okologischen, naturschutzfachlichen und betriebswirtschaftlichen Gesichtspunkten, verstandlich fur das Fachpublikum wie auch die Praxis, beleuchtet. Schwerpunkte sind dabei Effekte des Waldumbaus auf das Okosystem Wald und benachbarte Okosysteme, auf Stoffhaushalt, Artenzusammensetzung und Biodiversitat, ebenso wie die okonomischen Risiken, der Einfluss der Besitzverhaltnisse und die Technikfolgen."

Dr ULRICH MEVE'S book on Duvalia, one of the 30 genera comprising the group of stem-succulent Asclepiadaceae, is a piece of well-done research. The text is supported by excellent illustrations comprising full-page drawings and photo graphs making this monograph a very practicable contribution for both profes sional and amateur botanists. Dr MEVE'S species delimitations are mainly based on morphological, karyological and biogeographical studies, and therefore easy to follow. His taxonomic and well-established biogeographic conclusions have been supported by field observations in southern and eastern Africa. Without doubt, this book represents one of the best and most intensive monographs ever published for the Asclepiadaceae. The studies of Dr MEVE were initiated at my former chair of systematic botany in Kiel, the former work place of the renowned succulent plants specialist Dr H. JACOBSEN and the karyologist Prof. G. REEsE. Dr MEVE has been involved with Asclepiadaceae research for more than ten years, and his work is characterized by a meticulousness typical of him. He has made himself a name amongst colleagues as well as plant lovers by his remarkable number of scientific and popular publications, which are not restricted to succulent Asclepiadaceae."

Shows how rewarding our green inheritance is - before it is too late and we destroy our life-support system Highlights a deepening concern about the destruction that threatens our plant heritage Demonstrates the wonder and worth of plants and their great importance and potential - plants provide us with power - food, energy, medication and oxygen levels Explains why our plants cannot take any more punishment and how those that remain can be saved Actively campaigns the need to halt the devastation on our plant system and subsequently the animal kingdom

A must-have for mushroom hunters in the northeast The Northeast is one of the best places to find mushrooms; they are both abundant and spectacularly diverse. Mushrooms of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada is a compact, beautifully illustrated guide packed with descriptions and photographs of more than 500 of the region's most conspicuous, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms. Covers Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario, and most of Quebec More than 550 superb color photographs Helpful keys for identification Clear, color-coded layout An essential reference for mushroom enthusiasts, hikers, and naturalists

At a time when the world faces increasing pressures from climate change and biodiversity loss, seeds have never been more important. Highly complex, they have evolved in myriad ways to adapt to their environments. In this book we explore how seed-bearing plants evolved, and unravel the science behind the seed. We also show how scientists are working around the world to gather and bank seeds to save rare and valuable varieties from extinction.

Trees mirror in many ways the life cycle of human beings: they are born from seed, they breathe and drink, they grow to maturity, reproduce and eventually die from age or disease. Their branches, roots and the veins of their leaves resemble human blood vessels, and certain species even ooze a reddish, blood-like sap when damaged.From ancient times, people appreciated the spiritual value of trees, singling out individual trees for special veneration. In Ireland the roots of tree worship reach deep into pagan Celtic religion and spirituality. Christine Zucchelli looks at these trees, from Fairy Thorns to Rag Trees, from Mass Bushes to Monument Trees. This fascinating exploration of their stories and legends reveals their spiritual, social and historical functions from pagan times to the present.

Niall Mac Coitir brings to life the myths, legends and folklore associated with native Irish trees, much of which persists to this day. Two main themes emerge: the tree as a marker of important places such as royal sites or holy wells, and the role of trees as sources of magical power in folk customs and traditions, such as carrying a blackthorn sta. when out walking at night to ward off evil spirits. Beautifully illustrated and imaginatively written, this mix of natural history, mythology and folklore will entertain and enlighten all interested in Ireland's trees.

Updated to include changing garden exhibits, this interesting guide to Cape Town’s world-famous botanical garden traces the history and development of Kirstenbosch, from its establishment in 1913 to the spectacular showcase of indigenous flora it is today.

Prominent features of the garden are described, such as the protea, erica and restio gardens, the Dell, Conservatory and Camphor Avenue, as well as floral highlights of the four seasons. An updated layout map makes for easy navigating, and indicates walks and climbs that can be undertaken from the garden.

Colourful photographs portray the extraordinary beauty of the garden, both its spectacular flora and its setting against the backdrop of Table Mountain – and make this a worthy memento of a visit to Kirstenbosch.

Dieses Fachbuch beschreibt in umfassender Weise Technologie, Anwendung und Einflusse von Bindemitteln bei der Holzwerkstoffherstellung. Besonderer Wert wird auf das Zusammenspiel und die gegenseitigen Beeinflussungen der drei Hauptparameter Holz, Bindemittel und Herstellungsbedingungen gelegt; diese drei Parameter haben entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Qualitat der produzierten Holzwerkstoffe. Die Schwerpunkte des Buches sind:
- Fragen der Zusammensetzung, Analyse, Eigenschaften und Anwendung der verschiedenen Bindemittel sowie ihres Einflusses auf die Qualitat der damit hergestellten Holzwerkstoffe.
- Technologische Grundlagen der Holzwerkstoffherstellung.
- Grundlagen der Verleimung und der Eigenschaften von Leimfugen.
- Technologisch/technische Grundlagen der Holzwerkstoffe.
- Prufung und Eigenschaften von Holzwerkstoffen. Durch zahlreiche Abbildungen und ubersichtliche Tabellen wird eine besonders hohe Informationsdichte erzielt."

Schwermetalle sind von Natur aus in allen Boeden vorhanden. Die jeweiligen Gehalte sind dabei abhangig von den in den bodenbildenden Ausgangsgesteinen vorhandenen Konzentrationen, von den chemischen Eigenschaften der einzelnen Schwermetalle und von der Entwicklungsgeschichte der Boeden. Von einer wirklichen Belastung fur den Boden kann daher nur bei zusatzlich anthropogen verursachtem Schwermetalleintrag gesprochen werden. Der erste Teil des Buches fuhrt in die naturlichen Bodenprozesse sowie in die Chemie der Metalle und deren Analytik ein. Der Hauptteil beinhaltet detaillierte Informationen zu den einzelnen Schwermetallen, deren spezifischen Wechselwirkungen mit Boeden und Pflanzen und zeigt Moeglichkeiten der Melioration bzw. Sanierung auf.

A traditional meadow full of wild flowers is a rare sight today but it is not too late to restore them and to create new ones. Charles Flower is passionate about restoring the countryside. After the appalling destruction of the 1970s and 1980s he pioneered practical methods of wild flower restoration on his own farm, where he grows wild flower seed crops and runs restoration workshops. We have been through many painful years of seeing our meadows destroyed but Charles Flower has proved that it is possible to plan for diversity, harvest seed, propagate it and create new meadows, woods, hedges and ponds so that wild flowers can be successfully re-established not only in the countryside but also in our gardens, thus ensuring a supply of nectar over a long period - from the woodland primrose in March through to fleabane in the wet meadow in September - that will entice back countless butterflies and other insects. This book is full of practical detail amassed by someone who has devoted all his energy to good management of the countryside for over twenty years. It recounts the story of how he has helped restore the flowers - and thus ensure the return of wildlife - to numerous gardens, farms and estates, a story documented by glorious photographs that cannot fail to inspire.