Green Kingdom by Ben Dark

Green Kingdom by Ben Dark

The epic story of the plant kingdom, showing its staggering variety and ingenuity over half a billion years.

‘An awesome book. Ben Dark is a master storyteller’ NIGEL SLATER

‘Utterly fascinating. I don't expect to read a better work of natural history this year’ BILL BRYSON

‘An absolute delight . . . Green Kingdom is not just a joy to read , it is the kind of book that makes you see differently . . . Book of the year, for me’ James McConnachie, SUNDAY TIMES

From the arrival of the first plants on land 484 million years ago to the globe-spanning diversity of flora we know today, Green Kingdom traces the evolution of plant life across eons and continents, reanimating the lost worlds that shaped its course and dramatically expanding our vision of what it means to be a plant.

Through the stories of sixteen plant families, from the humble bog moss to the exquisite adaptations of the orchid, we witness how plant life colonised land, pioneered leaves, recruited fungi, formed seeds, manipulated animals and ultimately came to dominate our planet. Some take us to unrecognisable Earths, buried under twelve thousand years of ice or hidden in the blackout of an asteroid winter, others to a defining event in the planet’s history, from volcanic chain eruptions and sudden glaciations to the gradual parting of continents.

Inhabiting the lives and minds of the adventurers, poets, philosophers and scientists who pieced this epic story together, Green Kingdom is both a hidden history of the Earth and a dynastic drama, as rich and unexpected as any story ever told.

'Incredible . . . There’s a wow fact on every page . . . dizzying, thrilling . . . Few nature books I’ve read expand the mind so lyrically and effortlessly as this guide to our miraculous green world' DAILY MAIL

‘A wonderful book by a writer of spectacular gifts’ NICOLA SHULMAN, author of Graven with Diamonds

‘A profound yet joyfully entertaining read’ JONATHAN DRORI, author of Around the World in 80 Plants

‘Wondrous’ SUE STUART SMITH, author of The Well Gardened Mind

‘Dark is a fantastic writer and Green Kingdom is an extraordinary example of his brimming talent’ MATT COLLINS, author of The Tree Atlas

‘Unputdownable’ MARY KEEN, author of Diary of a Keen Gardener

Ben Dark is a historian, broadcaster and former head gardener. He holds degrees in history and horticulture and is the author of The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19 1/2 Front Gardens, chosen by the Sunday Times and Telegraph as a best book of the year. He is also creator and host of the award-winning Garden Log and Dear Gardener podcasts and a winner of Journalist of the Year at the Garden Media Guild awards.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781847928337
ISBN 10	1847928331
Title	Green Kingdom
Author	Ben Dark
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bodley Head
Year published	2026-10-29
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.