The floristic diversity in southern Africa is not only one of the region's greatest natural assets, but also one of the botanical wonders of the world. Here, South of the Cunene-Zambezi rivers, more than 10% of all vascular plants (over 30,000 species), including more than 46% of all succulents, are found on about 2.5% of the world's land surface area. Moreover, at least 60% of these species are strictly confined (endemic) to the region.;It is remarkable that most of southern Africa's endemic plants are concentrated in only a few relatively small and well demarcated areas known as Regions or Centres of Endemism. Although the existence of these centres has been known to field botanists for a long time, most of them remain comparatively unknown outside scientific circles. Over many years, the authors of this work have carefully documented the diversity of endemic plants and here they present the results of their efforts to recognize and define areas that warrant status as "centres of endemism".;Contrary to what would be expected from a botanically rich region, large parts of southern Africa are subjected to regular and almost predictive droughts, prolonged periods of below-average rainfall and a marked seasonality in precipitation. One consequence of the general aridity of the region has been the development of succulence as a survival strategy in many plants, including a significant proportion of endemics. In addition, many of these fat-bodied plants have acquired distinct defence mechanisms that enable them to survive in this harsh and often inhospitable climate. The resultant peculiar forms and behaviour patterns of these plants have fascinated botanists, plant explorers and the general public for years.;Whereas the classification and mapping of southern Africa's vegetation types have been the subject of numerous publications, the classification and mapping of the distribution patterns of the region's plant species have been neglected. This study brings together all the relevant information on most of the principal Regions and local Centres of Plant Endemism in southern Africa.

The ancient art of bonsai is thoroughly explored in this book. With the aid of this title, you'll discover the varied and intricate artistic paths to creating a bonsai in its many different finished forms. You'll also find practical instructions on starting and training your own bonsai and the special care and display needs of these plants. A final section describes in encyclopedia format those plants that have been proven to grow successfully and attractively under bonsai treatment.

Use the power of the humble house plant to combat the stresses of modern life! Succulents and indoor house plants may seem extra trendy right now, but these plants have more benefits than simply looking beautiful. Everyday products pollute the air in our homes and our mental wellbeing is threatened like never before. This gardening book reveals the best life-enhancing houseplants that can reduce stress, fight fatigue, and even lower your blood sugar. Winning Gold for the accompanying exhibit at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021, My Houseplant Changed My Life draws on groundbreaking research, profiling the best air-purifying plants you can put in your home to reduce pollutant gases, particulates, and volatile compounds. Discover how these indoor plants can actively clean the air and improve your mental health through their colours, scent, habit, and nurturing needs. Explore how having leafy companions can help to unlock your potential: - Profiles of the 50 top air-purifying and mood-enhancing plants - Easy-to-follow advice and expert tips from David Domoney, award-winning horticulturalist - Informative text highlights the natural wonder of each plant - Feature spreads show plant combinations to enhance your mood in different ways - Step-by-step demonstrations of essential care techniques Packed with expert advice, this book will equip you with everything you need to keep your plants thriving. It also highlights mindful ways to nurture and increase your green guests: by misting, wiping, feeding, pinching, pruning, and propagating. Discover the Power of Nature The ideal gift for your green-fingered friends, this book is perfect for urbanites with little or no outdoor space who want to increase the amount of greenery in their life.

This stunning new series of pocketbooks from Kew offer a snapshot into the diverse and beautiful world of plants. Each book lavishly showcases choice examples from individual plant groups or collections, beginning with the popular plant groups Palms and Cacti. The Library, Art and Archives at Kew is one of the most extensive botanical libraries in the world, with the oldest item dating back to the 1370s. In this new pocketbook series from Kew, each book presents 40 botanical paintings from the collection, illustrating the variety within each plant group, as well as the diversity of the collection and artistic styles. An introductory chapter by a Kew expert provides an overview of cacti, and extended captions accompany each painting. The luxury finish on these books make them a must-have gift item, printed on uncoated paper and with a cloth and foil finish.

Make your home your happy place with house plants. Bring the outside in. This gorgeous guide features over 80 indoor plants that will turn your house into a happy, healthy, healing home. Discover plants that will clean the air you breathe, help you get a good night's sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, help you get well soon, boost your brain power and bring greater joy and wellbeing into your life. From cacti and succulents to ferns and palms; flowering plants and foliage - find the perfect house plants for your living room, bathroom, bedroom and even your workspace. Bring the joy of the outdoors in and harness the natural healing power of plants. Features: Over 80 plants and their wellbeing benefits, A guide to choosing your plants and pots, Essential care instructions (indoor plants are so easy to look after!), and Simple propagation techniques to share your plants with friends

Hands up if you've killed a plant? Yep, me too. It's no secret that we've all become plant obsessed, but do we really understand how to look after them? I am not a Professor of Botany, but having run my florist and plant shop, Grace & Thorn, since 2011 I've learnt a few things along the way. HOW NOT TO KILL YOUR PLANTS is about taking the hocus-pocus out of plants and flowers and enabling you to understand a plant's needs in order to know where to place and how to style them, but most importantly how to keep them alive. I get asked every type of question you can imagine and I have written this book to answer them. Watering can down, it's time to go back to the roots. Keep it green. Nik x (AKA The Agony Plant)

Jim Hole looks at locations and areas inside of your home and helps you with the selection of great plants for a variety of indoor locations and situations

In Uplift Cinema, Allyson Nadia Field recovers the significant yet forgotten legacy of African American filmmaking in the 1910s. Like the racial uplift project, this cinema emphasized economic self-sufficiency, education, and respectability as the keys to African American progress. Field discusses films made at the Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes to promote education, as well as the controversial The New Era, which was an antiracist response to D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. She also shows how Black filmmakers in New York and Chicago engaged with uplift through the promotion of Black modernity. Uplift cinema developed not just as a response to onscreen racism, but constituted an original engagement with the new medium that has had a deep and lasting significance for African American cinema. Although none of these films survived, Field's examination of archival film ephemera presents a method for studying lost films that opens up new frontiers for exploring early film culture.

Cacti are full of contradictions. Although they can be found in some of the harshest, driest and most barren environments on earth, some are delicate tropical plants that grow high among the branches of the rainforest canopy. Many examples bristle with ferocious-looking spines, while others are completely bare. Nearly all exhibit remarkable floral displays - some having flowers that are even larger than the plant itself. Cacti have played a prominent role in human history for thousands of years. Some species were revered by ancient civilizations, playing a part in their religious ceremonies; other varieties have been heavily cultivated for food or for the production of the bright red dye cochineal - which is actually derived from a parasitic insect that feeds on the prickly pear cactus. Native to the American continents, cacti have spread worldwide and have become an important feature in many gardens and collections. Although not often in the culinary forefront of people's minds, a number of varieties of cacti are delicious to eat - it is a cactus that produces 'dragon fruit', which is fast becoming one of the world's more popular tropical fruits. In Cactus Dan Torre explores the natural, cultural and social history of cacti, with particular emphasis on how these remarkable plants have been represented in art, literature, cinema, animation and popular culture around the world. This is a highly original, entertaining and informative book that will appeal to everyone with an interest in cacti.