This is the ultimate field guide to the trees and landscapes of Central Park, with a lively, authoritative text and over 900 color photographs, botanical plates, and extraordinarily detailed maps. Under the direction of the Central Park Conservancy, the park's landscapes have been painstakingly restored to achieve the effects envisioned more than 150 years ago by the park's designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. This book highlights the leading role that trees play in defining 22 of these landscapes and chronicles the history of each of more than 200 tree species and varieties present in the park-where it came from and where the most outstanding specimens are located. Besides being a superb guide to the world's greatest center-city park, this book is a highly informative guide to most of the tree species commonly encountered in the eastern United States. Anyone who loves trees will find this book a very rewarding read, full of fascinating details and beautiful illustrations. Central Park Trees and Landscapes is divided into two major sections: "The Landscapes" opens with a geological account of Manhattan Island-from its position 500 million years ago on the edge of the proto-North American continent to its emergence about 15,000 years ago from the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The effects that human inhabitants had on the ecology of the island are described-from the burning of field stubble by Native Americans to the clearing of forest trees by Europeans. Next, the narrative focuses on the land that would eventually become Central Park-how it was saved from being dissected by John Randel's rigid street grid and how Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux became the park's designers. The heart of the section is devoted to the construction of the park in the late 1850s and 1860s. Twenty-two of the park's grand landscapes are pictured in dozens of photographs and in seven detailed maps pinpointing nearly 20,000 trees. Readers can identify each tree on the maps by species using the Tree Maps Key (located on the back of the front flap). "The Tree Guide" contains informative essays full of intriguing botanical and historical facts on over 200 of the park's tree species and varieties. Each two-page entry features illustrations of leaves, fruits, flowers, and bark as well as a striking portrait photograph of a park tree. The entries are organized into groups by leaf shapes shown on an easy-to-use identification key (located inside the front cover).

This beginner's guide from the authoritative pen of Lawrie Metcalf forms an easy-to-grasp introduction to over 80 of New Zealand's best-known trees. Though free of jargon and extraneous information, the text is lucid and packed with all the key facts on shape and appearance, foliage, blossom and fruit details that will enable the layperson to identify the species they commonly see in bush, reserve and beyond. Each entry is accompanied by a succinct data panel and a full-page, full-colour portrait photograph.

One of Gardens Illustrated's Best Books of 2020 Acclaimed author David Mabberley provides a ground-breaking analysis of early European understanding of Australia's lora. Combining science, horticulture, art and economics, this lavishly illustrated book - with many never before-published images - reveals the motives and complex networks that led to the international spread of knowledge and cultivation of hundreds of Australian plants in Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Based on the superb Peter Crossing Collection, Botanical Revelation documents a revolutionary phase in the understanding of Australia's flora and science more generally. Features: David Mabberley is one of the world's foremost botanical scholarsof early colonial Australia The detailed story of early European encounters with Australianplants is told here for the first time A beautifully designed and produced book packed with stunningillustrations, many never before published Uses a comprehensive private library - the Peter Crossing Collection-devoted to the early encountering, documenting and illustratingof Australian plants by Europeans before Darwin came here in1836 - to tell a fascinating story

Begin to Identify Mushrooms with this Great Visual Guide for the Upper Midwest! Mushrooming is a popular and rewarding pastime-and it's one that you can enjoy with the right information at hand. Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest 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 Kathy Yerich, is accessible to beginners but useful for even experienced mushroom seekers. Learn about nearly 400 species of common wild mushrooms found in the Midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. 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.

From the machair grasslands of the Outer Hebrides to the chalk cliffs of Kent, and from the dense pinewoods of Abernethy forest to the wetlands of the Fens of eastern England, Britain offers a richly varied array of habitats for our wild flowers. The distinguished science and natural history producer and filmmaker Steve Nicholls presents a visually stunning survey of Britain's best-loved wildflowers, illustrated with the his own beautiful photographs of flora in their habitat. Focusing on three broad habitats - grassland, open land and woodland - he offers a biologically rigorous but engagingly readable account of our wild flowers and the places that nourish them. He probes deep into the social and cultural history of wild flowers to tell a plethora of fascinating stories, from the 'daffodil trains' which transported Londoners to the 'golden triangle' in Gloucestershire to experience woodlands carpeted with wild daffodils, to the odd case of the Bath asparagus - which isn't an asparagus at all, but rather the edible flower buds of the rare spiked star of Bethlehem, which used to grow in abundance around Bath.

"I don't compose pictures, I find them in the colors, patterns, and shadows of the trees in front of me. While I walk, I let my feelings well up in my consciousness. My feelings guide me to find what I'm seeing and feeling and distill it into a picture." A beloved and popular Illinois institution, The Morton Arboretum welcomes one million annual visitors to walk its trails and view the 4,200 tree species on the grounds. Peter Vagt has photographed the Arboretum for over twenty years. This collection showcases eighty-five of his favorite works, each one in full color. Vagt's close attention to place and time reflects both his profound connection to the Arboretum and its preeminence as a sanctuary for anyone in search of transcendence in nature. A celebration of The Morton Arboretum in its centenary year, Light Through the Trees is the perfect keepsake or gift for anyone who admires trees and believes in their restorative power.

Starting in 1844 with the earliest images of the building of the Palm House, right up to the building of the Australian House and the 1960s, this book provides a fascinating slice of history, filtered through the lens of botanical exploration and science.

Perhaps the world's most distinctive tree, ginkgo has remained stubbornly unchanged for more than two hundred million years. A living link to the age of dinosaurs, it survived the great ice ages as a relic in China, but it earned its reprieve when people first found it useful about a thousand years ago. Today ginkgo is beloved for the elegance of its leaves, prized for its edible nuts, and revered for its longevity. This engaging book tells the rich and engaging story of a tree that people saved from extinction-a story that offers hope for other botanical biographies that are still being written. Inspired by the historic ginkgo that has thrived in London's Kew Gardens since the 1760s, renowned botanist Peter Crane explores the history of the ginkgo from its mysterious origin through its proliferation, drastic decline, and ultimate resurgence. Crane also highlights the cultural and social significance of the ginkgo: its medicinal and nutritional uses, its power as a source of artistic and religious inspiration, and its importance as one of the world's most popular street trees. Readers of this book will be drawn to the nearest ginkgo, where they can experience firsthand the timeless beauty of the oldest tree on Earth.

Flowers have played an important role in human culture and survival for thousands of years. The final products of flowers-fruits and seeds-are vitally important as food. Flowers provide bursts of color to homes and gardens and they symbolize love, sorrow, and renewal. Yet we often overlook their real purpose. Why do flowers exist and why do they have certain colors, shapes, and smells? What function does a flower have in the life and survival of the plants themselves? In nature, flowers play an essential role in improving a plant's chances of survival. Some flowers are pollinated by wind or water but most are designed to attract and reward pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, birds, and bats, to carry their pollen from flower to flower. After being pollinated, flowers produce fruits and again take advantage of wind, water, and animals to disperse their seeds, ensuring a new generation of their species. Pollination and seed dispersal are fine-tuned systems, and their importance in sustaining a healthy environment cannot be overstated. And, as ongoing climate and other environmental changes apply new pressures, flowers must continue to adapt in order to survive. In this beautifully illustrated book with over 200 stunning photographs, Michael Fogden and Patricia Fogden draw from existing research and their extensive field experiences all over the world to present a detailed but accessible introduction to the natural history of flowers. They discuss a representative sample of flowering and fruiting strategies, illustrating interactions between plants and their pollinators and dispersers, and conclude with descriptions of their favorite tropical flowers.

Based on a 20-year survey organised by the Botanical Society of Scotland, this is the most extensive and authoritative Flora of Edinburgh and the Lothians to be published since 1927. In addition to a complete Flora of vascular plants in the three Lothian vice-counties, the book includes: *Specialist chapters on topics ranging from fungi to ferns and from geology and climate to ethnobotany. *A substantial Bryophyte Flora of Edinburgh and the Lothians. *A discussion of land-use changes and the ecological and phytogeographical indications from the survey. *A description of the survey and details of the methods used in the compilation of the Flora. *30 colour and black and white plates, nearly 400 distribution maps and other illustrations. The Lothians are rich in diversity, from the moist uplands of the south to the dry, flat lands of the north-east. Habitats range from seacoast to moorland, from river and loch to woodland and meadow. In addition to this variety, there is the impact of man as manifested by agriculture, urbanisation, industry, and now climate change.Plant Life of Edinburgh and the Lothians presents an up-to-date account of this richness and will provide an essential basis for comparison with the flora and vegetation of the future.