This fun-filled, full-colour RHS adventure handbook is full of ideas to help kids discover the great outdoors and get closer to nature. Created with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the UK's leading gardening charity. This beautifully illustrated book is packed with fun activities, handy tips and nature facts to encourage children to explore the wonderful world around them. Grow your own strawberries and runner beans Build a hibernation home for outdoor creatures Create a nature scrapbook to treasure Discover more about plants, trees and wildlife Each page is filled with inspiring ideas for discovering and exploring plants and wildlife, with exciting activities for all seasons and weathers.

The Complete Language of Herbs is a comprehensive encyclopedia providing the meanings, powers, facts, and folklore for over 500 herbs and spices. Along with a beautiful visual depiction, each entry provides the herb or spice's scientific and common names, characteristics, and historic meanings and powers from mythology, medieval legends, folklore, and flower poetry. Did you know that allspice can be added to herbal mixtures to attract money or luck? Or that sprinkling arrowroot at the doors of your home will keep guests' negative energy from entering? Reaching the height of popularity during the Victorian era, floriographies-dictionaries of symbolic flower meanings-were an amusing pastime and art to subtly communicate unspoken emotions. To complement the success of The Complete Language of Flowers, author S. Theresa Dietz has scoured historic sources and compiled an equally beautiful compendium in The Complete Language of Herbs, revealing the secrets and powers of hundreds of common and forgotten herbs and spices from around the world. Together with stunning full-color illustrations and two indexes, one for searching by common herb and spice name and the other organized by meaning, this beautiful reference is a must-have for gardeners, chefs, party planners, and food enthusiasts. Elegantly designed and beautifully illustrated, the Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia series offers comprehensive, display-worthy references on a range of intriguing topics, including birthday astrology, dream interpretation, astrological self-care practices, techniques for harnessing the power of dreams, and the stories behind signs and symbols.

My Unicorn Garden is bursting with crafts and activities perfect for children. Created with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), the UK's leading gardening charity, this amazing book is packed with fun things to make and do both indoors and outdoors. It's time to get your green-hooves ready with your favourite unicorn friends! Paint a unicorn plant pot Create fantastic flower pressings Make your own mini unicorn garden Discover the wonderful secrets of gardening with magical, mythical unicorns! These unicorns are off on a garden tour to learn all about plants, wildlife and top gardening tips. The unicorns can't wait to start exploring - and you can join them! This book is packed with fun facts and activities, so you can become a gardening expert, too. Step-by-step gardening activities - perfect for families to enjoy the garden together Easy-to-follow instructions for growing your own plants Colouring in, spot-the-difference, and make your own daisy chain and winter wreath!

A marvelously illustrated look at the world's diverse forests and their ecosystems The earth's forests are havens of nature supporting a diversity of life. Shaped by climate and geography, these vast and dynamic wooded spaces offer unique ecosystems that shelter complex and interdependent webs of flora, fungi, and animals. The World Atlas of Trees and Forests offers a beautiful introduction to what forests are, how they work, how they grow, and how we map, assess, and conserve them. Provides the most wide-ranging coverage of the world's forests available Takes readers beneath the breathtaking variety of wooded canopies that span the globe Profiles a wealth of tree species, with enlightening and entertaining natural-history highlights along the way Features stunning color photos, maps, and graphics Draws on the latest cutting-edge research and technology, including satellite imagery

An entertaining and enthralling collection of myths, tales and traditions surrounding our trees, woodlands and forests from around the world.From the dark, gnarled woodlands of the north, to the humid jungles of the southern lands, trees have captured humanity's imagination for millennia. Filled with primal gods and goddesses, dryads and the fairy tales of old, the forests still beckon to us, offering sanctuary, mystery and more than a little mischievous trickery. From insatiable cannibalistic children hewn from logs, to lumberjack lore, and the spine-chilling legend of Bloody Mary, there is much to be found between the branches. Come into the trees; witches, seductive spirits and big, bad wolves await you.With this book, Folklore Thursday aim to encourage a sense of belonging across all cultures by showing how much we all have in common.

Did mushroom tea kick-start ancient Greek philosophy? Was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a thinly veiled psychedelic mushroom odyssey? Is Santa Claus really a magic mushroom in disguise?

The world of the magic mushroom is a place where shamans and hippies rub shoulders with psychiatrists, poets, and international bankers. Since its rediscovery only fifty years ago, this hallucinogenic fungus, once shunned in the West as the most pernicious of poisons, has inspired a plethora of folktales and urban legends. In this timely and definitive study, Andy Letcher chronicles the history of the magic mushroom--from its use by the Aztecs of Central America and the tribes of Siberia through to the present day--stripping away the myths and taking a critical and humorous look at the drug's more recent manifestations.

Informative, lively, and impeccably researched, Shroom is a unique and engaging exploration of this most extraordinary of psychedelics.

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.

How the prized matsutake mushroom is remaking human communities in China-and providing new ways to understand human and more-than-human worlds What a Mushroom Lives For pushes today's mushroom renaissance in compelling new directions. For centuries, Western science has promoted a human- and animal-centric framework of what counts as action, agency, movement, and behavior. But, as Michael Hathaway shows, the world-making capacities of mushrooms radically challenge this orthodoxy by revealing the lively dynamism of all forms of life. The book tells the fascinating story of one particularly prized species, the matsutake, and the astonishing ways it is silently yet powerfully shaping worlds, from the Tibetan plateau to the mushrooms' final destination in Japan. Many Tibetan and Yi people have dedicated their lives to picking and selling this mushroom-a delicacy that drives a multibillion-dollar global trade network and that still grows only in the wild, despite scientists' intensive efforts to cultivate it in urban labs. But this is far from a simple story of humans exploiting a passive, edible commodity. Rather, the book reveals the complex, symbiotic ways that mushrooms, plants, humans, and other animals interact. It explores how the world looks to the mushrooms, as well as to the people who have grown rich harvesting them. A surprise-filled journey into science and human culture, this exciting and provocative book shows how fungi shape our planet and our lives in strange, diverse, and often unimaginable ways.

‘I wonder what tree that is’ – if this thought has ever occurred to you in the Kruger National Park, this book is intended for you. Virtually no visitor to the Kruger National Park has not, at some point, become a nature enthusiast once the Big Five hunger has been stilled.
This book is about trees, but has been compiled around places in the Kruger National Park. It describes 51 species of trees in rest camps, picnic sites and bird hides as static objects. When you arrive in a rest camp, at a picnic site or bird hide, the book will draw your attention to a remarkable or interesting tree. The small map at the top left of each title page indicates in which part of the Kruger Park the tree is – the southern, central or northern region
It is only when you have come to see and appreciate the magnificence of the veld, that you wish you knew more about the trees encountered along the way... This book is a glorious travelling companion that introduces you to the characteristics of specific trees. It accompanies you on your journey from stopping place to picnic place to rest camp.
More than 220 beautiful photographs in full colour, user-friendly descriptions of 51 tree species and special anecdotes provide the reader with interesting general knowledge as well as an insight into the history of the Park.
It is a must-have inclusion in your Game Reserve library.

Wildcraft Your Way to Wellness In Southeast Medicinal Plants, herbalist CoreyPine Shane is your trusted guide to finding, identifying, harvesting, and using 106 of the region's most powerful wild plants. Readers will learn how to safely and ethically forage, and how to use wild plants in herbal medicines, including teas, tinctures, and salves. Plant profiles include clear, color photographs, identification tips, medicinal uses and herbal preparations, and harvesting suggestions. Lists of what to forage for each season makes the guide useful year-round. Thorough, comprehensive, and safe, this is a must-have for foragers, naturalists, and herbalists in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

The origin of roses is shrouded in mystery. Fossilised species of roses have been found across the northern hemisphere and are estimated to date back some 35-40 million years. The remarkable beauty, fragrance and usefulness of the rose have guaranteed its spread right across the globe. Throughout the years, its potent power has come to symbolise many things, but above all, the rose is a plant to be enjoyed and wondered at. Roses focuses on the classic, ageless and enduring flower that straddles garden-friendly modernity whilst also celebrating the style and grace of the old. Ranging from overblown, multi-petalled or deliciously simple and delicate, Roses rightly extols these beautiful blooms, and includes hands-on know-how and history of the world's favourite flower. With 45 species of Rose included, explore the flowers with the best visual appearance, most fragrant perfume, the easiest to grow and those ideal for cutting beautiful flowers from.

Learn to draw beautiful flowers from the old masters with some help from Classic Sketchbook: Botanicals. Improve your skills by learning techniques on one page, and practicing on the next page. Imagine learning to draw roses with Redoute, or tulips with Pieter Brugel. Imagine learning the secrets that made their flower paintings stand out in their eras and still stand out today. Classic Sketchbook: Botanicals is an art book that shows you how to create flowers that will stand the test of time by taking a close look at the details of great floral paintings, and then coaching you through the techniques. Each spread in this unique book is made up of two hard working components: The left-hand page features a close-up illustration from a noted 19th century and earlier artist, and the right-hand page, made from quality, uncoated stock, is for drawing. There are also coaching tips, observations, and a demonstrative sketch on each page. As you progress through the book, you'll get to try a variety of artists' styles, and see how to apply them to your own personal style. Don't wait to get started! By learning from the masters, you'll become a master yourself.

An essential guide to every species of tree found in the British Isles outside of arboretums This easy-to-use guide covers the 360 species of tree that are found in Britain & Ireland. Each species is covered in detail with information on how to identify, whether from a leaf, twig, bark or whole tree, plus extra information on where the tree grows (including a map), how high they grow, what uses the tree is used for and its unique history. Every species is also comprehensively illustrated with photographs of every useful feature - bark, leaf, seed, flower, twig and whole tree. Sample identification section: Silver Birch Betula pendula (Betulaceae) height to 26m A slender, fast-growing deciduous tree with a narrow, tapering crown when young and growing vigorously. Older trees acquire a weeping habit, especially if growing in an open, uncrowded situation.

Pocket Guide: Wild Flowers of South Africa covers some 260 flowers representing all of the region’s major vegetation types:

- Accounts are conveniently organised by flower colour.

- Key ID features are supplied for each flower, as well as interesting facts.

- A photograph and distribution map accompany each species.

- Includes common and conspicuous plants as well as some alien species that are naturalized in the region.

This book showcases some of the region’s diverse, strikingly beautiful floral splendours.

The coastal Pacific Northwest of North America is home to a multitude of edible and medicinal plant species, edible mushrooms, and marine plants—from Black Gooseberry to Western Tea-Berry, from Golden Chanterelle to Yellow Morel Mushroom, and from Sea Asparagus to Winged Kelp. Now revised and updated with additional species and recipes, this compact, full-color forager's guide offers clear photography, descriptions, safety tips, and warnings, as well as culinary and medicinal uses from Indigenous Peoples and settlers, for more than 150 wild-growing flora species in the region. Practical, user-friendly, and safe, Edible and Medicinal Flora of the West Coast is an indispensable guide for beginner and experienced foragers alike.

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

Can we imagine a world without flowers? Flowers are beautiful, offering us delight in their colour, fragrance and form, as well as their medicinal benefits. Flowers also speak to us in the language of the plant form itself, as cultural symbols in different societies, and at the highest levels of inspiration. In this beautiful and original book, renowned thinker and geometrist Keith Critchlow has chosen to focus on an aspect of flowers that has received perhaps the least attention. This is the flower as teacher of symmetry and geometry (the 'eternal verities', as Plato called them). In this sense, he says, flowers can be treated as sources of remembering -- a way of recalling our own wholeness, as well as awakening our inner power of recognition and consciousness. What is evident in the geometry of the face of a flower can remind us of the geometry that underlies all existence. Working from his own flower photographs and with every geometric pattern hand-drawn, the author reviews the role of flowers within the perspective of our relationship with the natural world. His illuminating study is an attempt to re-engage the human spirit in its intimate relation with all nature.

The Field Guide to the Succulent Euphorbias of southern Africa by Alma Moeller and Rolf Becker is a pioneer publication on euphorbias in southern Africa. It is a beautifully illustrated, full colour identification guide that makes it easy for the layperson as well as anybody interested in the flora of southern Africa to identify a particular species. The Guide contains: Introductory chapters containing general information about the species characters, how to identify an euphorbia, growing euphorbias in cultivation, gardening with euphorbias, medicinal and other uses, herbaceous species and invaders. Detailed descriptions of 224 species, including emphasis on distinguishing features, habitat, distribution maps, conservation status, scientific and known common names, as well as notes on similar species. Similar looking species are grouped together in 18 species groups, based on easily recognisable morphological characters. Group 19 contains previously undescribed species, and Group 20 contains species of uncertain status. More than 870 full-colour photographs and illustrations. Taxonomic classification. Glossary and index to scientific and common names.

Britain's nature year, from the first flower to the last leaf With a mix of evocative writing, beautiful photographs and facts that are too good to keep to yourself, this book explores 50 magical moments that define our seasons. It's an inspiring guide to connecting with the nature around you and seeing how it changes through the year. There's butterflies, blossom and bluebells. There's foxgloves, flying ants and fungi. There's snow, seedheads and shadows. You'll discover how many miles an hour spring moves, how spiders can heal us and how woodpeckers help to protect sensitive technology. The inspiration behind the book is partly the National Trust's hugely successful 'Blossom Watch' campaign, launched in March 2021. Each year we are encouraged to notice and share when we first see tree blossom, emulating the Japanese tradition of 'Hanami'.

Now outdoorsman and survivalists can own the official US Army guide to edible plants. Whether you are a stranded soldier, a wilderness hiker, or you just want to know which plants growing in your backyard are edible, this is an invaluable resource. Anyone who has spent serious time outdoors knows that in survival situations, wild plants are often the only sustenance available. The proper identification of these plants can mean the difference between survival and death. This book describes habitat and distribution, physical characteristics, and edible parts of wild plants-the key elements of identification. Hugely important to the book are its color photos. There are over one hundred of them, further simplifying the identification of poisonous and edible plants. No serious outdoors person should ever hit the trail without this book and the knowledge contained within it.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Trees, this guide to awakening your senses and engaging deeply with the forest is the perfect gift for hikers and walkers. "This book will fast-track you into the joys of spending time amongst the trees."--Tristan Gooley, author of The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs and How to Read Water You'll be changed after reading this fine and enchanting book."--Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling and Last Child in the Woods When you walk in the woods, do you use all five senses to explore your surroundings? For most of us, the answer is no--but when we do, a walk in the woods can go from pleasant to immersive and restorative. Forest Walking teaches you how to engage with the forest by decoding nature's signs and awakening to the ancient past and thrilling present of the ecosystem around you. What can you learn by following the spread of a root, by tasting the tip of a branch, by searching out that bitter almond smell? What creatures can be found in a stream if you turn over a rock--and what is the best way to cross a forest stream, anyway? How can you understand a forest's history by the feel of the path underfoot, the scars on the trees along the trail, or the play of sunlight through the branches? How can we safely explore the forest at night? What activities can we use to engage children with the forest? Throughout Forest Walking, the authors share experiences and observations from visiting forests across North America: from the rainforests and redwoods of the west coast to the towering white pines of the east, and down to the cypress swamps of the south and up to the boreal forests of the north. With Forest Walking, German forester Peter Wohlleben teams up with his longtime editor, Jane Billinghurst, as the two write their first book together, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. Together, they will teach you how to listen to what the forest is saying, no matter where you live or which trees you plan to visit next.

Called the work of "a mesmerizing storyteller with deep compassion and memorable prose" ("Publishers Weekly") and the book that, "anyone interested in natural history, botany, protecting nature, or Native American culture will love," by "Library Journal," "Braiding Sweetgrass" is poised to be a classic of nature writing. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces indigenous teachings that consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take "us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices.