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Books > Sport & Leisure > Natural history, country life & pets > Plant life: general > General
The Quick Guide for Sedges of the Northern Forest contains two double-sided photographic charts that allow users to see high-res, close-up images of the more than 200 sedges in the Northern Forest region. The map-sized folding charts are water-resistant and field-friendly, the perfect companion to the Photographic Guide. This product was produced by the Northern Forest Atlas Foundation.
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE GARDEN MEDIA AWARDS, INSPIRATIONAL BOOK OF THE YEAR** The lotus, lily, sunflower, opium poppy, rose, tulip and orchid: seven flowers, each with its own story full of surprises and secrets, each affecting the world around us in subtle yet powerful ways. But what is the nature of their power and how did it develop? Why have these particular plants become the focus of gardens, literature and art? In order to find the answers, author and horticultural historian Jennifer Potter tracks this septet of flowers across the globe as she examines the influence they have had on civilizations through the ages. These are both histories and detective stories, full of incident and unexpected revelations. Here are the flowers of life and death; of purity and passion; of greed, envy and virtue; of hope and consolation; of the beauty that drives men wild. All seven demonstrate the enduring ability of flowers to speak metaphorically - if we could only decode what they have to say.
This exploration of southern Africa's extraordinary fynbos has long been a popular introduction to the region's natural treasures. Formerly Explore the Cape Flora, and now relaunched as Exploring Fynbos, the book has been updated and freshly designed to appeal to today's young readers – and is a timely call to preserve what remains of our local habitat. The title details not only the region's flora, but also the animals that are associated with it and the many interactions and processes that underpin it all. The pages
This volume presents a history of heavy timber construction (HTC) in the United States, chronicling nearly two centuries of building history, from inception to a detailed evaluation of one of the best surviving examples of the type, with an emphasis on fire resistance. The book does not limit itself in scope to serving only as a common history. Rather, it provides critical analysis of HTC in terms of construction methods, design, technical specifications, and historical performance under fire conditions. As such, this book provides readers with a truly comprehensive understanding and exploration of heavy timber construction in the United States and its performance under fire conditions.
This book presents the latest information on tropical tree physiology, making it a valuable research tool for a wide variety of researchers. It is also of general interest to ecologists (e.g. Ecological Society of America; > 3000 or 4000 members at annual meeting), physiologists (e.g. American Society of Plant Biologists; > 2,000 members at annual meeting), and tropical biologists (e.g. Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, ATBC; > 500 members at annual meeting). (American Geophysical Union(AGU), > 20000 members at annual meeting). Since plant physiology is taught at every university that offers a life sciences, forestry or agricultural program, and physiology is a focus at research institutes and agencies worldwide, the book is a must-have for university and research institution libraries.
This book provides a comprehensive description of traditional and innovative forest-based bioproducts, from pulp and paper, wood-based composites and wood fuels to chemicals and fiber-based composites. The descriptions of different types of forest-based bioproducts are supplemented by the environmental impacts involved in their processing, use, and end-of-life phase. Further, the possibility of reusing, recycling and upgrading bioproducts at the end of their projected life cycle is discussed. As the intensity of demand for forest biomass is currently changing, forest-based industries need to respond with innovative products, business models, marketing and management. As such, the book concludes with a chapter on the bioproducts business and these products' role in bioeconomies.
This book provides up-to-date information on the environmental impact of transgenic trees on genetically modified tree (GMT) communication strategy. It is useful to public/private organisations as well as to private and public research bodies and universities worldwide since it reports on the global status of GMT research and policy. A high number of genetically modified trees (GMTs) with altered or novel characteristics have been produced in the last 15 years. However, their very low public acceptance is a basic problem in their commercialization. Breeders anticipate economic and ecological benefits, like reduced product costs and less pressure on native forests, while opponents fear risks, such as unintended spread of GMTs. But what is true? To answer this question, the COST Action FP0905 focused on key aspects related to GMTs: (a) biological characterization; (b) assessment of possible environmental impacts; (c) socio-economic implications and public acceptance/concerns; (d) providing science-based information to communicate with the public.
A completely new look at plants - not only in food, drink and commerce, and how they have created civilisation, trade and empires, but also in love, in war, in crime, in horror and delight, in music, poetry and prose, and on the screen. Not just another gardening or plant book, this is a complete picture of how plants affect people, for better or worse, now, in the past and in the future with illuminating and startling facts about their ubiquitous presence in human affairs - through life, death, illness, happiness, murder, despair, desperation, love, hate, loss, and far more. From Presidents to pop stars, from scientists to slavers, royals to religious leaders, chefs to charlatans, pioneers to politicians, artists to actors, Plants & Us is a unique overview of plants, wild and cultivated, their vital importance and the threats they face. Above all, how they affect all our lives in stories that will often surprise the reader.
Before 1910 the American chestnut was one of the most common trees in the eastern United States. Although historical evidence suggests the natural distribution of the American chestnut extended across more than four hundred thousand square miles of territory-an area stretching from eastern Maine to southeast Louisiana-stands of the trees could also be found in parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington State, and Oregon. An important natural resource, chestnut wood was preferred for woodworking, fencing, and building construction, as it was rot resistant and straight grained. The hearty and delicious nuts also fed wildlife, people, and livestock. Ironically, the tree that most piqued the emotions of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Americans has virtually disappeared from the eastern United States. After a blight fungus was introduced into the United States during the late nineteenth century, the American chestnut became functionally extinct. Although the virtual eradication of the species caused one of the greatest ecological catastrophes since the last ice age, considerable folklore about the American chestnut remains. Some of the tree's history dates to the very founding of our country, making the story of the American chestnut an integral part of American cultural and environmental history. The American Chestnut tells the story of the American chestnut from Native American prehistory through the Civil War and the Great Depression. Davis documents the tree's impact on nineteenth-and early twentieth-century American life, including the decorative and culinary arts. While he pays much attention to the importation of chestnut blight and the tree's decline as a dominant species, the author also evaluates efforts to restore the American chestnut to its former place in the eastern deciduous forest, including modern attempts to genetically modify the species. Accessible and well illustrated, this comprehensive history includes chapters on: the evolutionary history of the species the impact of chestnuts on Native American culture Henry David Thoreau's relationship with the tree uses in furniture making, building construction, tanning, and cityscaping the true origins of the chestnut blight fungus the U.S. chestnut revival and restoration efforts genetic resistance and the use of biotechnology to save the species
This is the first color-illustrated guide to polypores and similar fungi specific to the eastern and central regions of the United States and Canada. Welcoming and comprehensive, it accurately presents the currently available information about polypores, emphasizes identification based primarily on macroscopic field characters, and includes observational data drawn from the authors’ extensive experience. It includes new species and genera; addresses changing nomenclature; and provides details about polypores’ biology, morphology, composition, role as parasites, interactions with various arthropods, and purported medicinal applications. The book also highlights how changes in geology, soil structure, and plant species due to factors such as continental drift and climate change have affected the evolution of polypores. Featuring more than 240 species of polypores, extensive and easy-to-use dichotomous keys, and more than 300 color illustrations and multiple maps and line drawings, it is a must-have for amateur and professional mycologists, forest service personnel, mycophagists, and anyone interested in learning more about this remarkable group of fungi.
Trees have starred in stories ever since Ovid described the nymph Daphne's metamorphosis into a laurel, and the landscape of literature has long been enlivened by wild woodlands, sacred groves, and fertile orchards. This delightful collection ranges from Ovid to Austen and from Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest (via Thomas Love Peacock's Maid Marian) to Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. Here are forest-haunted fairy tales both classic (the Brothers Grimm) and inventively retold (Angela Carter). There is room in these woods for comedy as well as terror, in Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm, and Alexander McCall Smith's 'Head Tree'. Notable writers from around the world contribute arboreal fiction-from South Africa, Finland, France, Zimbabwe, Russia, Martinique, and India, as well as Britain, Ireland, Canada and America. From Daphne du Maurier's 'The Apple Tree' to R. K. Narayan's 'Under the Banyan Tree', the sheer range of stories in these pages will leave readers refreshed and dazzled.
This field guide includes all the flora and fauna you're most likely to see in the forests of eastern North America. With 53 full-color plates and 80 color photos illustrating trees, birds, mammals, wildflowers, mushrooms, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, beetles, and other insects.
Half of the ancient woodlands present in 1945 have been destroyed, replanted with conifers or cleared for cereal production, roads and building development. The intention of this book is to present evidence of our deep cultural need for trees and woods and to inspire people to take care of them. Trees, and indeed woods, know no distinction between town and country; they are close to everyone. If we are to combat local pollution, make even the slightest impact on global warming, enjoy our surroundings and share them with many other creatures, we need trees: trees here and trees now. If we are to nourish more than our prosaic needs we need their longevity, their beauty, their generosity. Trees stand for nature and culture. We shall stand or fall with them.
Foraging has seen a surge in popularity over recent years, driven by the organic, natural, local and wholesome lifestyles many now prefer. And knowing how to find food for free in the wild is beneficial whether you want to avoid eating overly processed foods, need to cope with modern dietary problems or would simply like to enjoy a bit more time with your family outdoors surrounded by nature. This brand new guide to foraging for families and amateur naturalists is full of information about natural habitats and where to find food in the wild. It includes descriptions of each edible plant, with accompanying illustrations and photos, as well as recipes and anecdotes. The book is organised by habitats, such as woodland, grassland, farmland or coast, to allow readers to engage with whatever natural landscape they walk through and help them understand why things grow where they do. Each plant entry will be accompanied by a colour artwork to assist with identification. Detailed black-and-white illustrations will provide extra guidance and photographs will bring modern foraging to life in a colourful and engaging way. Every section will also include tried-and-tested recipes from the author allowing readers to use what they forage to make something tasty for the kitchen table.
The largest edible fruit native to the United States tastes like a cross between a banana and a mango. It grows wild in twenty-six states, gracing Eastern forests each fall with sweet-smelling, tropical-flavored abundance. Historically, it fed and sustained Native Americans and European explorers, presidents, and enslaved African Americans, inspiring folk songs, poetry, and scores of place names from Georgia to Illinois. Its trees are an organic grower's dream, requiring no pesticides or herbicides to thrive, and containing compounds that are among the most potent anticancer agents yet discovered. So why have so few people heard of the pawpaw, much less tasted one? In Pawpaw-a 2016 James Beard Foundation Award nominee in the Writing & Literature category-author Andrew Moore explores the past, present, and future of this unique fruit, traveling from the Ozarks to Monticello; canoeing the lower Mississippi in search of wild fruit; drinking pawpaw beer in Durham, North Carolina; tracking down lost cultivars in Appalachian hollers; and helping out during harvest season in a Maryland orchard. Along the way, he gathers pawpaw lore and knowledge not only from the plant breeders and horticulturists working to bring pawpaws into the mainstream (including Neal Peterson, known in pawpaw circles as the fruit's own "Johnny Pawpawseed"), but also regular folks who remember eating them in the woods as kids, but haven't had one in over fifty years. As much as Pawpaw is a compendium of pawpaw knowledge, it also plumbs deeper questions about American foodways-how economic, biologic, and cultural forces combine, leading us to eat what we eat, and sometimes to ignore the incredible, delicious food growing all around us. If you haven't yet eaten a pawpaw, this book won't let you rest until you do.
Set in a world where plants talk, friendship is hard-won and adventure is around the bend of every river ... 'Townsend has crafted an uncannily rich and tactile atmosphere, grounding the reader in the setting so successfully that I could almost feel the river mist settling in my hair.' SARAH DRIVER 'Just finished this breathless marvel and there's so much to love about it. Wild and imaginative storytelling, it introduces us to talking oaks, poisonous rock and a central character with a lot to prove.' FLEUR HITCHCOCK Orla has lived on her own since Ma died, with only her beloved garden for company. When sickness comes and nature is blamed, Orla knows she must find a cure. Armed with her mother's book of plants and remedies, she steals away on a river boat with two other stowaways, Idris and Ariana. Soon the trio must navigate the rapids of the Inkwater to a poisonous place from which they may never return ... The debut novel from an astonishingly talented new writer A wild rapids-ride of a story, suffused at every turn with authentic details of the natural world A gorgeous gifty book: a flapped paperback with illustration by Marie-Alice Harel.
Legumes of the Great Plains: An Illustrated Guide is an invaluable tool for the identification of more than 114 species of legumes in the Great Plains. In addition to a distribution map, botanical illustration, and an in-depth botanical description, this comprehensive guide describes the habitat, uses and values, pollinators, forage value for livestock and wildlife, toxic properties, and ethnobotany of each species. The botanical synonyms and other common names-including those used by the Great Plains Indians-are also provided. This volume includes more than one hundred similar species with a description of how each differs from the main species. This reference book is indispensable to anyone interested in grassland and prairie conservation and management, the Great Plains, botany, or modern taxonomy.
Learn to identify, collect, and prepare wild edibles! Step into your backyard, garden, or nearby green space, and harvest an abundance of free, nutritious, and organic greens, tubers, and fruits. Foraging in North America introduces you to 12 widely accessible wild plants that can be gathered safely. Compared to cultivated garden plants, these wild edibles require no care, are hardier, and are amazing sources of nutrients. Throughout much of our history, wild plants were the mainstay of human diets. They were rich in micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals that nurtured good health and strong immune systems. Foraging in North America is a simple guide that introduces readers to those foods—including such overlooked superfoods as dandelions, lambs quarters, and nettles. Learn how to find and identify those wild edibles and more, while avoiding toxic or inedible look-alikes. Expert forager Tom Anderson also shares tips on best practices for collecting and even some ideas on how to prepare your finds for the table, based on 30 years of experience. The easy-to-use information is accessible for everyone from beginners to experts. Foraging is also an excellent family activity. It helps children to learn about the natural world while simultaneously giving them the satisfaction of contributing to the household. Bring this photo-illustrated quick guide on your next outing. Its pocket-sized format makes it easy to tuck into a daypack, camping cook kit, or glove compartment.
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