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The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants

Author: Wolfgang Stuppy

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13:

THE BIZARRE AND INCREDIBLE WORLD OF PLANTS brings together the best of the following three books in one fascinating union of art and science, POLLEN: THE HIDDEN SEXUALITY OF FLOWERS; SEEDS: TIME CAPSULES OF LIFE; AND FRUIT: EDIBLE, INEDIBLE, INCREDIBLE. Each earned high praise that varied from "breathtaking" and "ravishing" to "enlightening" and "truly revelatory." Visual artist Rob Kesseler uses special light and scanning electron microscopy to create astonishing images of a variety of pollen, seeds and fruits. His razor-sharp cross-sections reveal intricate interiors, pods, pouches, keys, and other examples of botanical architecture and seed dispersal. Seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy and palynologist Madeline Harley deftly explain the botanical purposes for which the pollen, seeds and fruit are designed, how they fulfill their mission, and their role in preserving the biodiversity of our planet. Literary references and early botanical illustrations pepper the text. THE BIZARRE AND INCREDIBLE WORLD OF PLANTS is groundbreaking in its intimate examination of plant reproduction. It is an essential source and reference for artists, designers and photographers and will fascinate gardeners and readers interested in the natural world. AUTHOR: Wolfgang Stuppy is a seed morphologist for the Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Rob Kesseler is a visual arts professor and artist who works with microscopic plant material at London's Royal Botanic Gardens. Madeline Harley, PhD, FLS, is head of the palynology unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens. ILLUSTRATIONS: Colour photographs

Plants of the World

Author: Maarten J. M. Christenhusz

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-11-13

Total Pages: 816

ISBN-13: 022653670X

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Plants of the World is the first book to systematically explore every vascular plant family on earth—more than four hundred and fifty of them—organized in a modern phylogenetic order. Detailed entries for each family include descriptions, distribution, evolutionary relationships, and fascinating information on economic uses of plants and etymology of their names. All entries are also copiously illustrated in full color with more than 2,500 stunning photographs. A collaboration among three celebrated botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plants of the World is authoritative, comprehensive, and beautiful. Covering everything from ferns to angiosperms, it will be an essential resource for practicing botanists, horticulturists, and nascent green thumbs alike.

In Defense of Plants

Author: Matt Candeias

Publisher: Mango Media Inc.

Published: 2021-03-16

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1642504548

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The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.

The Incredible Journey of Plants

Author: Stefano Mancuso

Publisher: Other Press, LLC

Published: 2020-03-24

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1635429927

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Named a Best Book of the Year for the Know-It-All by The Globe and Mail In this richly illustrated volume, a leading neurobiologist presents fascinating stories of plant migration that reveal unexpected connections between nature and culture. When we talk about migrations, we should study plants to understand that these phenomena are unstoppable. In the many different ways plants move, we can see the incessant action and drive to spread life that has led plants to colonize every possible environment on earth. The history of this relentless expansion is unknown to most people, but we can begin our exploration with these surprising tales, engagingly told by Stefano Mancuso. Generation after generation, using spores, seeds, or any other means available, plants move in the world to conquer new spaces. They release huge quantities of spores that can be transported thousands of miles. The number and variety of tools through which seeds spread is astonishing: we have seeds dispersed by wind, by rolling on the ground, by animals, by water, or by a simple fall from the plant, which can happen thanks to propulsive mechanisms, the swaying of the mother plant, the drying of the fruit, and much more. In this accessible, absorbing overview, Mancuso considers how plants convince animals to transport them around the world, and how some plants need particular animals to spread; how they have been able to grow in places so inaccessible and inhospitable as to remain isolated; how they resisted the atomic bomb and the Chernobyl disaster; how they are able to bring life to sterile islands; how they can travel through the ages, as they sail around the world.

The Big, Bad Book of Botany

Author: Michael Largo

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2014-08-05

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 006228276X

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David Attenborough meets Lemony Snicket in The Big Bad Book of Botany, Michael Largo’s entertaining and enlightening one-of-a-kind compendium of the world’s most amazing and bizarre plants, their history, and their lore. The Big, Bad Book of Botany introduces a world of wild, wonderful, and weird plants. Some are so rare, they were once more valuable than gold. Some found in ancient mythology hold magical abilities, including the power to turn a person to stone. Others have been used by assassins to kill kings, and sorcerers to revive the dead. Here, too, is vegetation with astonishing properties to cure and heal, many of which have long since been lost with the advent of modern medicine. Organized alphabetically, The Big, Bad Book of Botany combines the latest in biological information with bizarre facts about the plant kingdom’s oddest members, including a species that is more poisonous than a cobra and a prehistoric plant that actually “walked.” Largo takes you through the history of vegetables and fruits and their astonishing agricultural evolution. Throughout, he reveals astonishing facts, from where the world’s first tree grew to whether plants are telepathic. Featuring more than 150 photographs and illustrations, The Big, Bad Book of Botany is a fascinating, fun A-to-Z encyclopedia for all ages that will transform the way we look at the natural world.

Bizarre Plants: Magical, Monstrous, Mythical

Author: William A. Emboden

Publisher:

Published: 1974

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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Describes the histories and features of many unusual and spectacular specimens of the plant world.

Seeds

Author: Rob Kesseler

Publisher:

Published: 2014-05-07

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9781906506520

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Art and science collaborate on a fascinating story with extraordinary images in a highly-acclaimed book. Seeds, the most complex organs produced by plants, ensure the biodiversity of our planet. They vary from the impressive Seychelles nut that weighs twenty kilos to the dust-like seeds of the orchids. Some wait for hundreds of years to find the right place and time for germination after travelling thousands of kilometres or just a few centimetres. The evolution of their highly sophisticated structures from prehistoric times to today makes fascinating reading as do the wiles plants use to attract and deceive their chosen pollinators. The extraordinary images that accompany this story provide an unprecedented presentation of the magnificent diversity of seeds in all their exquisite beauty and sophistication. Fruits are the keepers of the precious seeds that ensure our future; some are edible, others inedible and many, quite simply, incredible.

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Plants [3 volumes]

Author: Christopher Cumo

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-04-25

Total Pages: 1223

ISBN-13:

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Readers of this expansive, three-volume encyclopedia will gain scientific, sociological, and demographic insight into the complex relationship between plants and humans across history. Comprising three volumes and approximately half a million words, this work is likely the most comprehensive reference of its kind, providing detailed information not only about specific plants and food crops such as barley, corn, potato, rice, and wheat, but also interdisciplinary content that draws on the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The entries underscore the fascination that humans have long held for plants, identifies the myriad reasons why much of life on earth would be impossible without plants, and points out the intertwined relationship of plants and humans—and how delicate this balance can be. While the majority of the content is dedicated to the food plants that are essential to human existence, material on ornamentals, fiber crops, pharmacological plants, and carnivorous plants is also included.

Plants Go to War

Author: Judith Sumner

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2019-06-03

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1476676127

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As the first botanical history of World War II, Plants Go to War examines military history from the perspective of plant science. From victory gardens to drugs, timber, rubber, and fibers, plants supplied materials with key roles in victory. Vegetables provided the wartime diet both in North America and Europe, where vitamin-rich carrots, cabbages, and potatoes nourished millions. Chicle and cacao provided the chewing gum and chocolate bars in military rations. In England and Germany, herbs replaced pharmaceutical drugs; feverbark was in demand to treat malaria, and penicillin culture used a growth medium made from corn. Rubber was needed for gas masks and barrage balloons, while cotton and hemp provided clothing, canvas, and rope. Timber was used to manufacture Mosquito bombers, and wood gasification and coal replaced petroleum in European vehicles. Lebensraum, the Nazi desire for agricultural land, drove Germans eastward; troops weaponized conifers with shell bursts that caused splintering. Ironically, the Nazis condemned non-native plants, but adopted useful Asian soybeans and Mediterranean herbs. Jungle warfare and camouflage required botanical knowledge, and survival manuals detailed edible plants on Pacific islands. Botanical gardens relocated valuable specimens to safe areas, and while remote locations provided opportunities for field botany, Trees surviving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki live as a symbol of rebirth after vast destruction.

The Secret World of Plants

Author: Ben Hoare

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-10-11

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0744079004

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A timeless treasury of more than 100 stories from the incredible kingdom of plants, told by author and nature expert Ben Hoare. Plants are found almost everywhere on Earth, but to many people their lives are a mystery. Learn how seagrass flowers underwater, how the Venus flytrap counts to make sure it catches its prey, and why some tulips used to cost more than a house! This fascinating book for kids explores the vast plant kingdom and explains how plants work, as well as the weird and wonderful relationships they have with animals. Children can discover the secrets of more than 100 amazing plants in this treasury of fascinating flora, as well as the essentials of plant science, including photosynthesis, pollination, and germination. Each species is shown with remarkable photography and beautiful illustrations, all brought to life by Ben Hoare’s writing, filled with charm and infectious enthusiasm. This nature book for children ages 7+ features: - An eye-catching holographic cover, gilded edges, and stunning photography and illustrations, making it the perfect gift - A wide range of incredible plants and trees from all around the world - Illustrated diagrams to support definitions of different types of plants - Introductory reference pages that explain key topics such as photosynthesis This book is a must for any child interested in the natural world and the plants that grow in it. Plants provide us with food, fuel, and medicine, and without them, life as we know it would not exist. From orchids that grow vanilla pods to leaves that look like stones, and from bamboo that can be made into clothes to moss that soaks up vast amounts of carbon dioxide, plants shape our world in an endless variety of ways.