Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World

Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World by Helen Bynum

Imagine a typical morning--munching on a bowl of cereal, sipping coffee, dressing for the day, riding to work. Every moment of this common routine draws on the power of plants, and the centuries of development that brought wheat, coffee beans, cotton, and rubber--among many others--into our daily lives.
Remarkable Plants celebrates the wonder and utility of the green kingdom, taking a detailed look at how plants have shaped our world. It focuses on eighty key species and richly explores their history, highlighting their importance and bringing to light surprising stories. Organized thematically into eight sections, the book starts with Transformers (including rice, beans, olives) and moves through sections such as Heal and Harm (poppy, aloe, strychnos) and Revered and Adored (lotus, frankincense, rose). Each species is introduced with its common and scientific names and followed by an exploration of its cultural, historical, botanical, and symbolic associations. Hundreds of botanical illustrations show full plants as well as highlight distinctive leaves, blooms, and fruits.
Rooted in one of the world's most important and renowned temples of greenery, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Remarkable Plants is a symbiotic balance of science and art that will open readers' eyes to the deep influence of the natural world on our modern one.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226204741
ISBN 10	022620474X
Title	Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World
Author	Helen Bynum
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Year published	2014-10-05
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.