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.

Ancient Trees in the Landscape is the outcome of many years research into the history of trees in Norfolk, and represents the first detailed, published account of the ancient and traditionally managed trees of any English county. Yet it is far more than a regional survey. It is an exploration of how trees can be studied as part of the landscape. It discusses how accurately trees can be dated; explains why old trees are found in certain contexts and not in others; discusses traditional management practices and how these changed over time; and looks at the various ways in which trees have been used in parks and gardens. Above all, it considers how trees were regarded by people in the past, and how this has affected their survival to the present. Ancient Trees in the Landscape is a fascinating and original study which sets out a new agenda in landscape history. It will be essential reading for countryside managers and conservationists, and for all those interested in landscape history, arboriculture, and the history of the English countryside.

Drawing on sources from archaeology and written texts, the author brings out the full significance of trees in both pagan and Christian Anglo-Saxon religion. Trees were of fundamental importance in Anglo-Saxon material culture - but they were also a powerful presence in Anglo-Saxon religion before and after the introduction of Christianity. This book shows that they remained prominentin early English Christianity, and indeed that they may have played a crucial role in mediating the transition between ancient beliefs and the new faith. It argues that certain characteristics of sacred trees in England can be determined from insular contexts alone, independent of comparative evidence from culturally related peoples. This nevertheless suggests the existence of traditions comparable to those found in Scandinavia and Germany. Tree symbolismhelped early English Christians to understand how the beliefs of their ancestors about trees, posts, and pillars paralleled the appearance of similar objects in the Old Testament. In this way, the religious symbols of their forebears were aligned with precursors to the cross in Scripture. Literary evidence from England and Scandinavia similarly indicates a shared tradition of associations between the bodies of humans, trees, and other plant-life. Though potentially ancient, these ideas flourished amongst the abundance of vegetative symbolism found in the Christian tradition. MICHAEL D.J. BINTLEY is Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature at Canterbury Christ Church University.

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.

Grapevines and their clusters are very rich in components with different and interesting healthy effects, which also extend to grape derivatives such as must, wines and all other products (extracts, flour, leaves, seeds, pomace, etc.). Bioactive constituents present in grapes and vines, mainly polyphenols, are attracting increasing interest from consumers demanding polyphenol-rich foods as a result of epidemiological evidence suggesting the protective potential of polyphenols against chronic diseases directly associated with oxidative damage, such as Alzheimer's, cancers, diabetes, and hypertension, amongst others. In this regard, besides the traditional products from grapes, such as wine and juice, grape Vitis by-products are increasingly being re-utilized and transformed into high-value products for the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. In this context, the book Vitis Products: Composition, Health Benefits and Economic Valorization intends to deeply discuss many aspects of the products derived from grapevines, including the diversity and potential of a wide range of economical possibilities, factors involved in their composition, varietal differences, and industrial process, showing a wide range of possibilities.

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.

In a new, practical format - the stunning book celebrating British wild flowers by award-winning garden writer Sarah Raven.

Inspired by childhood excursions with her botanist father, Sarah Raven has travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles to find 500 of our most breathtakingly beautiful wild flowers.

This lavishly illustrated book is divided by habitat, covering woods, downs and dales, lanes and hedgerows, meadows, coast, marshes and streams, moors and mountains, and wasteland. Sarah introduces a wide range of plants, telling you their names and something about them. Discover pulsatillas, fritillaries, bluebells, wild garlic, harebells, forget-me-nots, foxgloves, wood spurge, silverweed,purple cranesbill, deadly nightshade, St John's wort, comfrey, orchids,wood sorrel, snowdrops and more.

There are glorious landscape photographs by Jonathan Buckley throughout, and one of his stunning plant portraits accompanies each of Sarah's authoritative, captivating species descriptions. Informative and lovely, Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers is a botanical marvel.

Prosopis is an intriguing genus of flowering plants found in subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, Africa and Asia. Although some invasive Prosopis species cause economic and environmental damage, others offer a wide range of benefits, including the use of some Prosopis species for human and animal food which has provided valuable resources for some of the poorest communities. This seven chapter book is based around a discussion of experts' points-of-views and aims at updating scientific advances on the Prosopis species around important themes such as ecosystems, pollution, public health, veterinary medicine, greenhouse effects, feed additives, neurotoxicity, cancer and allergies. Reading the chapters will help the reader become more aware of the growing relevance, importance and impact of Prosopis species worldwide and it certainly will surprise and instigate the reader to seek an even more awakened look at the most different possibilities for applying Prosopis species in new strategies and technologies for a better world.

Nestled within our green and pleasant land lies pockets of emerald trees. Their roots search deep into the ground and the branches reach high towards the sun. For centuries some of these have stood watching and listening to the human creatures living among them, hearing their stories and remembering. What mysteries could these woodlands tell if the trees could speak? Stories of brave deeds and foolish, star-crossed lovers, of monsters, giants and witches, hobs and kings. Discover the secrets of our forests in this engaging collection of folk tales.

This field guide features detailed descriptions of 455 species of trees native to eastern North America, including the Midwest and the South. The 48 color plates, 11 black-and-white plates, and 26 text drawings show distinctive details needed for identification. Color photographs and 266 color range maps accompany the species descriptions.

If trees could talk, they would have a lot to say. The gentle giants of the forest, they have fascinated us for millennia – there is much we can learn from their wise woody ways to live a healthier and happier life.

Be More Tree is a celebration of our long-standing friends and reveals how we all could benefit from branching out. From learning to share the spaces we inhabit, to changing with the seasons and sticking together and leaving a lasting legacy – Alison Davies delves deeps to reveal the stories and secrets of thinking like a tree.

Next title in the successful series and packed with beautiful illustrations, advice, folklore, exercises and handy spotter's guide, this is the ultimate guide to harness the wisdoms of trees.

An acclaimed, beautifully illustrated introduction to spring-blooming wildflowers of the northeastern United States and Canada This exquisitely illustrated volume provides an accessible, in-depth introduction to spring-blooming wildflowers of the northeastern United States and Canada. Featuring more than 500 detailed color photos and a large, beautifully designed format, the book delves into the life histories of more than thirty-five wildflowers and their relatives, from common favorites, such as bloodroot and Jack-in-the-pulpit, to interesting, lesser-known species, including miterwort and featherfoil. Drawing on a wealth of personal experience and the latest scientific research, and presenting it all in terms anyone can understand, acclaimed naturalist and photographer Carol Gracie invites readers to enhance their appreciation of the beauty of these wildflowers by learning not just their names or how many petals they have, but what pollinates them, how their seeds are dispersed, how they interact with other plants and animals, how Native Americans and other people have used them, and other interesting facts. Each species is illustrated with a range of detailed color photos that not only capture its beauty but illustrate the features discussed in the text and show the plant in its environment alongside the pollinators, herbivores, or seed dispersers with which, in many cases, the wildflower has evolved. Other topics covered include the naming of wildflowers; pathogens and pests; related species in other parts of the world; and wildflowers in history, literature, and art. Presenting authoritative information in an inviting style, Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast is an ideal volume for wildflower lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, naturalists, students, and more. Showcases the most spectacular spring-blooming wildflowers of the northeastern United States and Canada Features more than 500 stunning full-color photos Covers the life histories, lore, and uses of more than 35 species and their relatives Combines the latest scientific research with an easy-to-read style Features species accounts for these wildflowers: Baneberries Bloodroot Blue Cohosh Blue-eyed Mary Celandines Columbine Dutchman's Breeches Early Meadow-rue Early Saxifrage False Hellebore Featherfoil Fire-pink Fringed Polygala Hepaticas Jack-in-the-pulpit Lady-slippers Lesser Celandine Lousewort Mayapple Miterwort One-flowered Cancer-root Skunk Cabbage Spring Beauties Squawroot Trilliums Trout-lily Twinleaf Violets Virgina Bluebells Wild Ginger

The history of aroma and fragrance dates back through several ages and civilizations. The sagacity of smell plays a remarkable role for human beings to recognise food. Best fruits can be judged when they are ripe and fit for consumption emitting lovely smell or aroma. The same attribute from flowers attracts insects leading to cross-pollination. India has enjoyed a paramount place in the fabrication of quality perfumes and aromatics since the prehistoric era. The celebrated Chinese voyager Fa-Hien described India as the land of aromatic plants. Indian cities like Delhi, Agra, Kannauj, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Aligarh, Bharatpur, Mysore, and Hyderabad emerged as centres of national and international trade in perfumery and other aromatic compounds, and were known for their quality across Asia, Europe and Africa. Aromatic plants precisely possess odorous volatile substances in root, wood, bark, stem, foliage, flower and fruit. The typical aroma is due to an assortment of composite chemical compounds. At present, information on the chemistry and properties of essential oils of only about 500 aromatic plants species is known in some detail out of a total of about 1500. Of these, about 50 species find use as commercial source of essential oils and aroma chemicals. It is realized now that perfumes are not the essentials of sumptuousness as they were in the past. It has given birth to new streams of medicinal therapy, aromatherapy, involving the use of essential oils and aromatics derived from plants to treat diseases. Essential oils are also reported to be better than antibiotics due to their safety and broad-spectrum activity. Natural essential oils are also potentially safe insecticides. The essential oil obtained from Acorus calamus having ss-asarone as an active principle produces sterility among a variety of insects of either sex. It has, therefore, been found very useful and secure for the storage of food grains. However, there is still very inadequate research for the cultivation of aromatic crops and extraction of essential oils across the globe. This book has been designed to highlight the associated issues of aromatic plants including the aspects of their classification, importance, uses and applications for human wellbeing, botany, agrotechniques, major bioactive constituents, post-harvest extraction, chemistry and biochemistry of aroma compounds along with an informative modern global research on these plants throughout the world. I hope this book will cater the scholastic services, reward diverse professionals and stakeholders, and serve as an informative handbook for theoretical as well as practical purposes.

How afforestation reveals the often-concealed politics between humans and plants In Plant Life, Rosetta S. Elkin explores the procedures of afforestation, the large-scale planting of trees in otherwise treeless environments, including grasslands, prairies, and drylands. Elkin reveals that planting a tree can either be one of the ultimate offerings to thriving on this planet, or one of the most extreme perversions of human agency over it. Using three supracontinental case studies-scientific forestry in the American prairies, colonial control in Africa's Sahelian grasslands, and Chinese efforts to control and administer territory-Elkin explores the political implications of plant life as a tool of environmentalism. By exposing the human tendency to fix or solve environmental matters by exploiting other organisms, this work exposes the relationship between human and plant life, revealing that afforestation is not an ecological act: rather, it is deliberately political and distressingly social. Plant Life ultimately reveals that afforestation cannot offset deforestation, an important distinction that sheds light on current environmental trends that suggest we can plant our way out of climate change. By radicalizing what conservation protects and by framing plants in their total aliveness, Elkin shows that there are many kinds of life-not just our own-to consider when advancing environmental policy.

AS FEATURED ON 'BBC RADIO 4 'GOOD READS'. Woodlands Awards 2019: Woodland Books of the Year 'The oak is the wooden tie between heaven and earth. It is the lynch pin of the British landscape.' The oak is our most beloved and most common tree. It has roots that stretch back to all the old European cultures but Britain has more ancient oaks than all the other European countries put together. More than half the ancient oaks in the world are in Britain. Many of our ancestors - the Angles, the Saxons, the Norse - came to the British Isles in longships made of oak. For centuries the oak touched every part of a Briton's life - from cradle to coffin It was oak that made the 'wooden walls' of Nelson's navy, and the navy that allowed Britain to rule the world. Even in the digital Apple age, the real oak has resonance - the word speaks of fortitude, antiquity, pastoralism. The Glorious Life of the Oak explores our long relationship with this iconic tree; it considers the life-cycle of the oak, the flora and fauna that depend on the oak, the oak as medicine, food and drink, where Britain's mightiest oaks can be found, and it tells of oak stories from folklore, myth and legend.

Finding wildflowers has never been easier! Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast is an authoritative trail-side reference for hikers, naturalists, gardeners, and anyone wishing to learn more about the region's diverse flora. This comprehensive guide describes and illustrates more than 1,200 species, including perennials and annuals, both native and naturalized non-native. More than 1,300 superb color photographs, 1,200 range maps, and a user-friendly organization by color and other observable traits make identification easy. Covers Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and southeastern Pennsylvania Describes and illustrates more than 1200 species Includes perennials and annuals, both native and naturalized non-native 1337 superb color photographs, 1218 range maps, 1 regional map User-friendly organization by flower color and other, easily observable plant features

A tribute to the natural history of some of our most iconic British woods. The National Trust manages hundreds of woods, covering over 60,000 acres of England and Wales. They include many of the oldest woodlands in the land and some of the oldest living things of any kind - trees that are thousands of years old. From Dean to Epping, from Hatfield to Sherwood, this book covers the natural history of our forests and how they have changed the face of our landscape. Covering the different species of trees that give our woods their unique characters, the plants and animals that inhabit them and the way their appearance changes throughout the seasons, Woods is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated celebration of Britain's trees and the ancient stories that surround them.