As gardeners, most of us have a general understanding of plants but, reading Plants & Fungi, it’s clear how much more there is to know.
Part scientific explanation, part visual feast, this new book from Dorling Kindersley, is a chance to discover a fascinating world.
(I was given a review copy but am not paid for the review.)
The book opens with the science, including different plant and fungi types, and their anatomy. The explanations, while using correct terminolgy, are clear and easy to understand – a bonus for those of us who gave up studying science early on.
Each page is filled with illustrations – photographs, drawings and diagrams – that help with the descriptions and make what could have been a dry subject highly entertaining.
We learn why leaves are green, that there are mosses to withstand both desert heat and arctic cold, how the mycorrhizal partnership works, and that lichens can live thousands of years.
It seems that fungi are more closely related to animals than plants and shouldn’t be confused with algae, despite the latter sometimes producing spores.
Having been given an overview, Plants & Fungi then takes us around the world, looking more closely at different growing areas from the trees of the cold north through to the colourful fungi of South America, covering trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials.
A second lap focuses on the use of plants, including medicinal, and those that have developed particular characteristics to cope with their environments, such as being able to store water.
Interesting snippets include the fact that Daphne bholua was used to make paper, several acacia species are home to ant colonies, and that there are 14 species of bee in the Arctic.
Some plants are given their own moment in the spotlight with a more in-depth piece – this includes my two biggest foes, horsetail (Equisetum) and honey fungus. More welcome was the piece on the Scots pine, known as Kelo in Finland where it can live for 300-500 years before standing as dead wood for another 200.
The book closes with a directory of plant orders, helping to explain the way scientists order living organisms.
DK are well known for their colourful guides, many of them aimed at children. This addition to the catalogue is a colourful and informative guide to the plants and fungi that are a vital part of our world.
As we are told: “Animals, including humans, are entirely dependent on them, as they are the keystone of every ecosystem.”
Plants & Fungi: The Definitive Visual Guide is published by DK with an RRP of £35. You can buy it here for £22.03. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.) Alternatively, you may wish to buy from an independent bookseller here. All prices correct at time of publication of this post.
You can read more of my gardening and garden-related book reviews here.
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Bit pricey, but it sounds really good.
It is a beautiful hardback book and the illustrations are stunning.