Plant-Hunter's Atlas: A World Tour of Botanical Adventures, Chance Discoveries and Strange Specimens

A captivating history of plant introductions, "Plants of the World" showcases the remarkable journeys of plants across the globe, featuring explorers, scientists, and artists. It explores how plants have shaped empires, economies, medicine, and science, and highlights the efforts of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to protect and manage biodiversity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 27 May 2021
Publisher: Quercus Publishing

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced the winners of its prestigious Staff Pick of the Year 2021 awards, recognizing outstanding books in various categories. Among the winners is "The Plant Hunters: A History of Botanical Discoveries That Shaped Our World," written by Roy Lancaster. This captivating book delves into a refreshingly insightful history of plant introductions, exploring how they have traveled across the globe, shaped empires, built economies, revolutionized medicine, and advanced our understanding of science.

Spanning from Australia's Botany Bay to the Tibetan plateau, from the deserts of Southern Africa to the jungles of Brazil, this book presents an incredible cast of characters. Meet dauntless Scots explorer David Douglas and visionary Prussian thinker Alexander von Humboldt, the "Green Samurai" Mikinori Ogisu, and the intrepid 17th-century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian, the first woman known to have made a living from science. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 botanical artworks from the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, this absorbing book tells the stories of how plants have traveled across the world, from the missions of the Pharaohs to 21st-century seed banks and the many new and endangered species being named every year.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is a world-famous research organization and a major international visitor attraction. It harnesses the power of its science, the rich diversity of its gardens and collections to unearth why plants and fungi matter to everyone. Its aspiration is to end the extinction crisis and help create a world where nature and biodiversity are protected, valued, and managed sustainably.

Weight: 1092g
Dimension: 199 x 254 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529410112