Explains the patterns method of plant identification, describing eight key patterns for recognizing more than 45,000 species of plants, and includes an illustrated reference guide to plant families.

Explores the secret lives of various plants, from the colors they see to whether or not they really like classical music to their ability to sense nearby danger.

"INFORMATIVE AND ORIGINAL" Guardian, 'This month's best paperbacks' We've become used to thinking of plants as things for us to use: as food, tools, resources, or just as an attractive background to our own lives. But it's time to change our minds. New research shows that plants can think, plan - and may even have memories. We share our planet with beings whose potential we have only glimpsed. Featuring the writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Susie Orbach and Merlin Sheldrake, This Book is a Plant will be your handbook to the new reality: showing you a pathway to completely reimagine your relationship with a different kind of natural world. Delve into a world of moss and fungi: Sheila Watt-Cloutier transports us to the Arctic spring, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan discovers the pleasures of painting trees, and Rebecca Tamás puts roots down through earth and soil. This Book is a Plant is made from paper: it was once part of a tree. But it's also a seed: the first shoots of a radical new way of seeing the world around you. "AN ECLECTIC ANTHOLOGY GUARANTEED TO MAKE THE HEARTS OF EARTH LOVERS BEAT FASTER" Metro

Explains the patterns method of plant identification, describing seven key patterns for recognizing more than 45,000 species of plants, and includes an illustrated reference guide to plant families.

The uplifting, adventure-filled memoir of one groundbreaking scientist’s quest to develop new ways to fight illness and disease through the healing powers of plants. “A fascinating and deeply personal journey.” ­—Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Plants and The Drunken Botanist Traveling by canoe, ATV, mule, airboat, and on foot, Dr. Cassandra Quave has conducted field research everywhere from the flooded forests of the remote Amazon to the isolated mountaintops in Albania and Kosovo—all in search of natural compounds, long-known to traditional healers, that could help save us all from the looming crisis of untreatable superbugs. Dr. Quave is a leading medical ethnobotanist—someone who identifies and studies plants that may be able to treat antimicrobial resistance and other threatening illnesses—helping to provide clues for the next generation of advanced medicines. And as a person born with multiple congenital defects of her skeletal system, she's done it all with just one leg. In The Plant Hunter, Dr. Quave weaves together science, botany, and memoir to tell us the extraordinary story of her own journey.

Spring is the most captivating season of the year for both novice and veteran gardeners as green shoots emerge from bare earth, announcing the promise of beautiful blooms to come. But have you ever found yourself crouched beside a flower bed, puzzling over which plants exactly are pushing their way through the soil? Difficult, but by no means impossible – and this is where this picture-led book, jam-packed with useful information, compelling facts and identification tips for beginners, is at hand. Cataloguing 150 common garden plants found in Britain and Europe, the book covers perennials, flowers, shrubs, weeds and wildflowers as well as a unique section on self-seeding plants, which merrily spread about our gardens and can prove difficult to identify. As well as satisfying your curiosity, identifying the plants in your outdoor space will help you get the most out of your plot. Without knowing which flowers, herbs, shrubs or weeds you are working with, it is impossible to give your garden or allotment the care it needs to thrive. And even those without the luxury of their own outdoor space will find interesting insights on plant names and origins alongside intriguing historical tidbits in this engaging field guide, from the connection between daffodils and dementia in Wales to the controversial history of the hawthorn tree. In this comprehensive directory, you’ll find garden plants organized according to type with hands-on advice for identifying the mystery interlopers in your borders, and information about their height, spread, flowering period and toxicity. Discover a wide array of British garden plants, with practical tips for their care and uses.

"A Tour of the Flowering Plants provides an overview of plant families and evolutionary relationships, and introduces a modern system of angiosperm classification."--Back cover.