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An alphabetical checklist of rhododendron species: showing the equivalent names and classification in the Balfourian Series and the horticulturally modified Cullen and Chamberlain revision. Click here to buy
$15.00
Oblong format, unpaginated, wrappers.
Bromeliaceae: profile of an adaptive radiation. Click here to buy
Benzing, David H.
$399.00
Hardback 708 pp., illustrations. BRAND NEW.
This title is not held in stock but we are happy to supply on special order. Please contact us. This book covers bromeliad biology, rather than cultivation. It presents a synthesis of the extensive information available on the biology of Bromeliacea, a largely neotropical family of about 2700 described species. Reproductive and vegetative structure and related physiology, ecology and evolution are emphasized, rather than floristics and taxonomy. Guiding questions include: why is this family inordinately successful in arboreal (epiphytic) and other typically stressful habitats and also so important to extensive fauna beyond pollinators and frugivores in the forest canopy? Extraordinary and sometimes novel mechanisms that mediate water balance, tolerance for high and low exposures, and mutualisms with ants have received much study and allow interesting comparisons among plant taxa and help explain why members of this taxon exhibit more adaptive and ecological variety than most other families of flowering plants. This volume concentrates on function and underlying mechanisms, thus will round out a literature that otherwise mostly ignores basic biology in favour of taxonomy and horticulture. (ISBN: 0521430313) (EAN: 9780521430319)
Flora: an illustrated history of the garden flower. Click here to buy
Elliott, Brent.
$150.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 336 pp., colour illustrations.
Whether roses from China, geraniums from Southern Africa, hibiscus from the Pacific or orchids from the Americas, all the best-loved garden flowers are illustrated in this book, along with the story of their journey from the wild species in far-flung places to domestic varieties in our gardens. For hundreds of years, as Europe explored the world beyond its shores, intrepid adventurers, botanists and plant hunters sent back seeds and specimens of the thousands of flowers they came across on their travels. In Britain in particular, nurserymen and aristocratic garden lovers set about experimenting with each new influx of botanical material, to create the garden flowers we know today. This book tells the story of this evolution, drawing on the superb archive of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Flowering plant families of the world. Click here to buy
Heywood, V.H., et al.
$70.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 424 pp., colour illustrations, maps. BRAND NEW.
This updated and revised edition is a fascinating introduction to the world's flora with comprehensive accounts of more than 500 flowering plant families. Each entry describes distribution, diagnostic features, classification, structures, uses and ecology of flowering plants. Over 1,000 visually stunning and precisely scaled illustrations display the major characteristics of key plants, and detailed maps show worldwide distribution. There is an extensive and meticulously illustrated glossary, and a comprehensive index, with plant names in both Latin and English; which complement and complete a beautifully illustrated and accurately researched work of reference.
Flowering plants of the neotropics. Click here to buy
Smith, Nathan P. et al.
$125.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 616 pp., colour and line illustrations, tables.
The American tropics are home to almost one third of the world's flowering plants. With fabulous colour illustrations and detailed descriptions, this represents the work of one hundred and fifty botanists and covers more than two hundred and eighty families of plants between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
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Flowers and herbs of early America. Click here to buy
Griffith, Lawrence D.
$110.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 304 pp., colour illustrations. BRAND NEW.
FORTHCOMING, due December 2008. Hounds-tongue, Ragged robin, Costmary, and Pennyroyal all-heal. These plants, whose very names conjure up a bygone world, were among the great variety of flowers and herbs grown in America's colonial and early Federal gardens. In this sumptuously illustrated book, a leading historic plant expert brings this botanical heritage back to life.Drawing on years of archival research and field trials in Colonial Williamsburg's gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, Lawrence Griffith documents fifty-six species of flowers and herbs and provides details on how they were cultivated and used. For each plant, an elegant period handcoloured engraving, watercolour, or woodcut is presented along with glorious new photographs by Barbara Temple Lombardi.This book is a dazzling treat for armchair gardeners and for those who have visited and admired the famous gardens of Colonial Williamsburg. It is also an invaluable companion for twenty-first-century gardeners who will appreciate the specific advice of a master gardener on how to plan, choose appropriate species for, and maintain a beautiful, historic flower and herb garden. (ISBN: 0300145365) (EAN: 9780300145366)
Flowers in history: 1808-2008. Click here to buy
De Herdt, Rene et al.
$130.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 208 pp., colour photographs. BRAND NEW.
Text in English, Dutch, French and German. In the past before the era of photography, flowers were reproduced in paintings or drawings. In this book some of the most appealing illustrations that depict nature's colourful splendour are brought together with a range of present day photographs. Photographer Ignace Maenhaut captures flowers in a unique and fascinating way and shows us the beauty and complexity of more than 100 varieties. The beautiful photographs combined with the modern artistic layout and of course the flowers themselves turn this book into vibrant and mesmorising work of art. (ISBN: 9020977377) (EAN: 9789020977370)
Flowers: how they changed the world. Click here to buy
Burger, William C.
$38.00
Small octavo, dustwrapper, 337 pp., colour photographs. BRAND NEW.
The world would be a pretty drab place without flowers. Their bright cheery colours help make our natural environment a more delightful place to be. But flowers in all their beautiful variations didn't evolve just for the viewing pleasure of the later-developing human race. What are flowers really for? As botanist and popular science writer William Burger makes clear in this enchanting book, the quick and simple answer is: sex. Burger emphasises the essential role that flowers play in life's evolutionary scheme. Their bright colours and alluring shapes represent a strategy for attracting insects and inducing animals to help with pollination. This constant intermingling is nature's way of perpetuating the species and encouraging variety, so as to protect against disease and unpredictable environments. Flowers are the supreme example of nature's reproductive exuberance, ensuring the persistence of life against an onslaught of destructive forces. More significantly, Burger points out, flowers are the fundamental energy resource for most of the biosphere. Since they energise themselves by capturing the energy of sunlight, they provide a vital link in the chain of life, especially for animals and humans, which depend on other organisms to nourish and energise them. Without the existence of flowering plants, human survival would be in jeopardy. Finally, Burger goes on to show the paramount importance of a few species of plants that have served not only as the basis of agriculture, but, in doing so, have enabled human civilisation to thrive. Even today, in our complex technological world, it is the flowering plants that provide us with nearly all the vegetable energy that sustains us. Written with clarity, wit, and engaging enthusiasm for the marvels of our fragile ecosystem, "Flowers" will make you stop and smell the roses, with a new appreciation of their crucial role in the web of life. (ISBN: 1591024072) (EAN: 9781591024071)
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Handbook of structural timber design. Click here to buy
Langlands, Ian and A. J. Thomas.
$25.00
Octavo, 300 pp., signature.
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Living trees of the world. Click here to buy
Everett, Thomas H.
$40.00
Quarto, 316 pp., colour photographs, other illustrations.
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Major evolutionary transitions in flowering plant reproduction. Click here to buy
Barrett, Spencer C.H.
$50.00
Quarto, paperback, 216 pp., illustrations. BRAND NEW.
FORTHCOMING, due January 2009. The first volume to address the study of evolutionary transitions in plants, this book brings together compelling work from the three areas of significant innovation in plant biology: evolution and adaptation in flowers and pollination, mating patterns and gender strategies, and asexual reproduction and polyploidy. Spencer C. H. Barrett assembles here a distinguished group of authors who address evolutionary transitions using comparative and phylogenetic approaches, the tools of genomics, population genetics, and theoretical modeling, and through studies in development and field experiments in ecology. With special focus on evolutionary transitions and shifts in reproductive characters - key elements of biological diversification and research in evolutionary biology. (ISBN: 0226038165) (EAN: 9780226038162)
Peonies: the imperial flower. Click here to buy
Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jane.
$45.00
Large octavo, 384 pp., colour photographs and illustrations, few pale marks free endpapers, otherwise as new in dustwrapper.
(ISBN: 0297824244) (EAN: 9780297824244)
Rhododendrons in horticulture and science: papers presented at the International Rhododendron Conference, Edinburgh, 2002. Click here to buy
Argent, George and Marjorie McFarlane, editors.
$110.00
Octavo, paperback, 312 pp., colour photographs. BRAND NEW.
This book for rhododendron lovers of all persuasions covers a broad range of topics presented at the Rhododendron Conference in 2002. The Conference, held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, brought together scientists, horticulturists and rhododendron enthusiasts. The subjects covered include the latest field work in China and South-East Asia; growing techniques and current research into vireya anatomy, cold tolerance, pests and diseases and the latest in molecular taxonomy. Much of this work is new. The authors are of international repute, and write with enthusiasm as well as authority. In this volume there is something for everyone interested in this beautiful shrub genus, and much that has implications for horticulture and science in general. (ISBN: 187229149X) (EAN: 9781872291499)
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The geography of flowering plants. Click here to buy
Good, R.
$25.00
Octavo, 518 pp., photographs, signature, very good copy in dustwrapper.
The illustrated Rhododendron: their classification portrayed through the artwork of Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Click here to buy
Halliday, Pat.
$95.00
Quarto, dustwrapper, 268 pp., colour illustrations. BRAND NEW.
In a celebration of these wonderful shrubs, Pat Halliday presents the classification of the genus Rhododendron as proposed by the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, using as a medium the beautiful illustrations from Curtis's Botanical Magazine. There are 121 plates representing all the subgenera, sections and series within this complex genus. The new text accompanying each plate provides an account of the species in cultivation, history, distribution in the wild, habitat, relationship with other species and classification. (ISBN: 1900347997) (EAN: 9781900347990)
The Journal of Forestry and Estates Management. A monthly illustrated magazine devoted to the science and practice of arboriculture and the general management of estates, Volumes 1 and 2. Click here to buy
Forestry.
$250.00
Octavo, 1788 pp. Half black calf, marbled edges, illustrations, some spotting, hinge cracked on volume 2.
The rose's kiss: a natural history of flowers. Click here to buy
Bernhardt, Peter.
$30.00
Octavo, paperback, 267 pp., illustrations. BRAND NEW.
A fascinating and wide-ranging look at the natural history of flowers - how they look, what they do, and their often hidden interactions with the surrounding environment and other living organisms upon which they depend for their survival. (ISBN: 0226044408) (EAN: 9780226044408)
The tulip. Click here to buy
Pavord, Anna.
$45.00
Large octavo, 439 pp., colour photographs and illustrations, as new in dustwrapper.
"The Tulip" is not a gardening book. It is the story of a flower that has made men mad. Greed, desire, anguish, devotion have all played their part in the development of the tulip from a wild flower of the Asian steppes to the world-wide phenomenon it is today. The US alone imports three thousand million tulip bulbs each year, Germany and France even more. Why did the tulip dominate so many lives through so many centuries in so many countries? The author, a self-confessed tulipomaniac, has spent six years looking for answers. No other flower has ever carried so much baggage; it charts political upheavals, illuminates social behaviour, mirrors economic booms and busts, plots the ebb and flow of religious persecution. Roaming through Asia, India, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the author tells how the tulip arrived from Turkey and took the whole of Western Europe by storm. In the petals of the exquisite English florists' tulips, still exhibited in competition by members of the Wakefield Tulip Society in Yorkshire, runs the blood of flowers first grown by John Evelyn in the middle of the seventeenth century., Sumptuously illustrated from a wide range of sources, the book also features descriptions of eighty wild-species tulips and several hundred garden varieties. This beautifully produced and irresistible volume will become a bible, a unique source book, a universal gift book and a joy to all who possess it. Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for the "Independent", and the author of widely praised gardening books including "The Flowering Year" and "Gardening Companion". As well as writing for the "Observer" for twenty years, she has contributed to "Country Life", "Country Living", and "Elle Decoration", and is an associate editor of "Gardens Illustrated". She lives in Dorset, England, in an old rectory with a large garden that she has been developing for twenty years. (ISBN: 0747542961) (EAN: 9780747542964)
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Wild flowers of the world. Click here to buy
Morley, Brian D.
$25.00
Small folio, dustwrapper, 432 pp., colour plates.
(ISBN: 0706403215) (EAN: 9780706403213)