Download or read book In Defense of Plants written by Matt Candeias and published by Mango Media Inc.. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.

Download or read book The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants written by Wolfgang Stuppy and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE BIZARRE AND INCREDIBLE WORLD OF PLANTS, which sold 6,000 copies in hardcover and is now available in paperback This title brings together the best of these three books in one fascinating union of art and science, POLLEN: THE HIDDEN SEXUALITY OF FLOWERS; SEEDS: TIME CAPSULES OF LIFE; AND FRUIT: EDIBLE, INEDIBLE, INCREDIBLE. Each earned high praise that varied from "breathtaking" and "ravishing" to "enlightening" and "truly revelatory." Visual artist Rob Kesseler uses special light and scanning electron microscopy to create astonishing images of a variety of pollen, seeds and fruits. His razor-sharp cross-sections reveal intricate interiors, pods, pouches, keys, and other examples of botanical architecture and seed dispersal. Seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy and palynologist Madeline Harley deftly explain the botanical purposes for which the pollen, seeds and fruit are designed, how they fulfill their mission, and their role in preserving the biodiversity of our planet. Literary references and early botanical illustrations pepper the text. THE BIZARRE AND INCREDIBLE WORLD OF PLANTS is groundbreaking in its intimate examination of plant reproduction. It is an essential source and reference for artists, designers and photographers and will fascinate gardeners and readers interested in the natural world. AUTHOR: Wolfgang Stuppy is a seed morphologist for the Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Rob Kesseler is a visual arts professor and artist who works with microscopic plant material at London's Royal Botanic Gardens. Madeline Harley, PhD, FLS, is head of the palynology unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens. ILLUSTRATIONS: Colour photographs

Download or read book Plants That Kill written by Elizabeth A. Dauncey and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This richly illustrated book provides an in-depth natural history of the most poisonous plants on earth, covering everything from the lethal effects of hemlock and deadly nightshade to the uses of such plants in medicine, ritual, and chemical warfare"--Dust jacket.

Download or read book Lessons from Plants written by Beronda L. Montgomery and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of how plant behavior and adaptation offer valuable insights for human thriving. We know that plants are important. They maintain the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. They nourish other living organisms and supply psychological benefits to humans as well, improving our moods and beautifying the landscape around us. But plants don’t just passively provide. They also take action. Beronda L. Montgomery explores the vigorous, creative lives of organisms often treated as static and predictable. In fact, plants are masters of adaptation. They “know” what and who they are, and they use this knowledge to make a way in the world. Plants experience a kind of sensation that does not require eyes or ears. They distinguish kin, friend, and foe, and they are able to respond to ecological competition despite lacking the capacity of fight-or-flight. Plants are even capable of transformative behaviors that allow them to maximize their chances of survival in a dynamic and sometimes unfriendly environment. Lessons from Plants enters into the depth of botanic experience and shows how we might improve human society by better appreciating not just what plants give us but also how they achieve their own purposes. What would it mean to learn from these organisms, to become more aware of our environments and to adapt to our own worlds by calling on perception and awareness? Montgomery’s meditative study puts before us a question with the power to reframe the way we live: What would a plant do?

Download or read book Plants Have So Much to Give Us All We Have to Do Is Ask written by Mary Siisip Geniusz and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-06-22 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mary Siisip Geniusz has spent more than thirty years working with, living with, and using the Anishinaabe teachings, recipes, and botanical information she shares in Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask. Geniusz gained much of the knowledge she writes about from her years as an oshkaabewis, a traditionally trained apprentice, and as friend to the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabe medicine woman from the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan and a scholar, teacher, and practitioner in the field of native ethnobotany. Keewaydinoquay published little in her lifetime, yet Geniusz has carried on her legacy by making this body of knowledge accessible to a broader audience. Geniusz teaches the ways she was taught—through stories. Sharing the traditional stories she learned at Keewaydinoquay’s side as well as stories from other American Indian traditions and her own experiences, Geniusz brings the plants to life with narratives that explain their uses, meaning, and history. Stories such as “Naanabozho and the Squeaky-Voice Plant” place the plants in cultural context and illustrate the belief in plants as cognizant beings. Covering a wide range of plants, from conifers to cattails to medicinal uses of yarrow, mullein, and dandelion, she explains how we can work with those beings to create food, simple medicines, and practical botanical tools. Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask makes this botanical information useful to native and nonnative healers and educators and places it in the context of the Anishinaabe culture that developed the knowledge and practice.

Download or read book A World of Plants written by Martin Jenkins and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A conservation biologist and a printmaker team up for a fascinating, visually arresting guide to botanical history, biodiversity, and the rich inner lives of plants. A must-read for budding gardeners! Covering more than twenty-five subjects, from photosynthesis and permaculture to the hidden world of Victorian plant hunters, this stylish illustrated guide is packed with scientific insight into the critical role plants play in the drama of life on Earth. Did you know that some plants steal while others defend themselves against attack? That the largest cacti can reach sixty-six feet tall and weigh more than a car? That there are meat-eating plants the size of footballs? Readers young and old will marvel at the wondrous diversity and adaptability of plants, from trees and tropical species to those that have evolved to master extreme conditions. A brisk narrative bursting with facts—all carefully organized with maps and charts in richly patterned vintage-style illustrations—make for a vivid guide to all that grows . . . and a beautiful gift book for anyone interested in the environment.

Download or read book World of Plants written by Alexandra Davey and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World of Plants: Stories of Survival introduces you to 100 fascinating plants, all of which are threatened in the wild, at a time when it is estimated that 40 per cent of the world's plant species are at risk from extinction. Readers are able to discover a host of charismatic plants that contribute to our world's rich biodiversity, from minute mosses to the largest tree on earth. This is a chance to hear the stories of some of the world's rarest and most threatened species in the Living Collection at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.--Back cover.

Download or read book Plant Tribe written by Igor Josifovic and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 833 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Igor JosifovicandJudith de Graaff, the bestselling authors of Urban Jungle, delve into the many ways that nurturing plants helps nurture the soul. Plant Tribe: Living Happily Ever After with Plants addresses the life-changing magic of living with and caring for plants. Aimed at a wider audience than typical houseplant books, each chapter combines easily digestible plant knowledge, style guidance via real home interiors, and inspiring advice for using plants to increase energy, creativity, and well-being, and to attract love and prosperity. Also included: real-world @urbanjungleblog followers’ FAQs, a section on plants and pets, and plant care for the different stages of a houseplant’s life. The focus is on using plants to raise the positive energy of every room in the house and to live happily ever after with plants. “Living with plants has changed my life: Taking care of my green friends helps me feel present in the moment and inspired to more observant and patient. Plant Tribe is full of fresh ideas on how to take plant love to the next level. I’m so glad this book exists!” —Tina Roth Eisenberg, designer, founder of Tattly, CreativeMornings, Friends Work Here, and TeuxDeux Includes Color Photographs

Download or read book Plants and Empire written by Londa Schiebinger and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plants seldom figure in the grand narratives of war, peace, or even everyday life yet they are often at the center of high intrigue. In the eighteenth century, epic scientific voyages were sponsored by European imperial powers to explore the natural riches of the New World, and uncover the botanical secrets of its people. Bioprospectors brought back medicines, luxuries, and staples for their king and country. Risking their lives to discover exotic plants, these daredevil explorers joined with their sponsors to create a global culture of botany. But some secrets were unearthed only to be lost again. In this moving account of the abuses of indigenous Caribbean people and African slaves, Schiebinger describes how slave women brewed the "peacock flower" into an abortifacient, to ensure that they would bear no children into oppression. Yet, impeded by trade winds of prevailing opinion, knowledge of West Indian abortifacients never flowed into Europe. A rich history of discovery and loss, Plants and Empire explores the movement, triumph, and extinction of knowledge in the course of encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean populations.

Download or read book The Incredible Journey of Plants written by Stefano Mancuso and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best Book of the Year for the Know-It-All by The Globe and Mail In this richly illustrated volume, a leading neurobiologist presents fascinating stories of plant migration that reveal unexpected connections between nature and culture. When we talk about migrations, we should study plants to understand that these phenomena are unstoppable. In the many different ways plants move, we can see the incessant action and drive to spread life that has led plants to colonize every possible environment on earth. The history of this relentless expansion is unknown to most people, but we can begin our exploration with these surprising tales, engagingly told by Stefano Mancuso. Generation after generation, using spores, seeds, or any other means available, plants move in the world to conquer new spaces. They release huge quantities of spores that can be transported thousands of miles. The number and variety of tools through which seeds spread is astonishing: we have seeds dispersed by wind, by rolling on the ground, by animals, by water, or by a simple fall from the plant, which can happen thanks to propulsive mechanisms, the swaying of the mother plant, the drying of the fruit, and much more. In this accessible, absorbing overview, Mancuso considers how plants convince animals to transport them around the world, and how some plants need particular animals to spread; how they have been able to grow in places so inaccessible and inhospitable as to remain isolated; how they resisted the atomic bomb and the Chernobyl disaster; how they are able to bring life to sterile islands; how they can travel through the ages, as they sail around the world.

Download or read book Land of Plants in Motion written by Thomas R. H. Havens and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Land of Plants in Motion is the first in any language to examine two companion stories: (1) the rise of an East Asian floristic zone and how the Japanese islands evolved an astonishing wealth of plant species, and (2) the growth of Japanese botanical sciences. The majority of plant species regarded as “Japanese” trace their origins to western China and the eastern Himalaya but are so indigenized that they often seem native today. Early modern scientists in Japan drew on knowledge of Chinese herbal medicine but achieved distinctive insights into plant life commensurate with but separate from their European counterparts. Scholars at the University of Tokyo pioneered Japanese plant biology in the late nineteenth century. They incorporated Western botanical methods but sought a degree of difference in taxonomy while also gaining international legitimacy through publications in English. Japan’s age of empire (1895–1945) was less about plant exploration and more about plant collection, for both scientific and economic benefits. Displays of species from throughout the empire made Japan’s sphere of colonization and conquest visible at home. The infrastructure for research and instruction expanded slowly after World War Two: new laboratories, botanical gardens, scholarly societies, and publications eventually allowed for great diversity of specialized study, especially with the growth of molecular biology in the 1970s and DNA research in the 1980s. Basic research was harmed by cuts in government funding during 2012–2017, but Japanese plant biologists continue to enjoy international esteem in many fields of scholarship.

Download or read book Radical Botany written by Natania Meeker and published by Fordham University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Succeeds beautifully in discovering and entwining an entire tradition of speculative botany that will reshape plant studies and posthumanist theory.” —Stacy Alaimo, author of Exposed: Environmental Politics and Pleasures in Posthuman Times Science Fiction & Technoculture Studies Book Prize Winner Radical Botany excavates a tradition in which plants participate in the effort to imagine new worlds and envision new futures. Modernity, the book claims, is defined by the idea of all life as vegetal. Meeker and Szabari argue that the recognition of plants’ liveliness and animation, as a result of scientific discoveries from the seventeenth century to today, has mobilized speculative creation in fiction, cinema, and art. Plants complement and challenge notions of human life. Radical Botany traces the implications of the speculative mobilization of plants for feminism, queer studies, and posthumanist thought. If, as Michael Foucault has argued, the notion of the human was born at a particular historical moment and is now nearing its end, Radical Botany reveals that this origin and endpoint are deeply informed by vegetality as a form of pre- and posthuman subjectivity. The trajectory of speculative fiction which this book traces offers insights into the human relationship to animate matter and the technological mediations through which we enter into contact with the material world. Plants profoundly shape human experience, from early modern absolutist societies to late capitalism’s manipulations of life and the onset of climate change and attendant mass extinction. A major intervention in critical plant studies, Radical Botany reveals the centuries-long history by which science and the arts have combined to posit plants as the model for all animate life and thereby envision a different future for the cosmos.

Download or read book The Nation of Plants written by Stefano Mancuso and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2023-04-18 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this playful yet informative manifesto, a leading plant neurobiologist presents the eight fundamental pillars on which the life of plants—and by extension, humans—rests. Even if they behave as though they were, humans are not the masters of the Earth, but only one of its most irksome residents. From the moment of their arrival, about three hundred thousand years ago—nothing when compared to the history of life on our planet—humans have succeeded in changing the conditions of the planet so drastically as to make it a dangerous place for their own survival. The causes of this reckless behavior are in part inherent in their predatory nature, but they also depend on our total incomprehension of the rules that govern a community of living beings. We behave like children who wreak havoc, unaware of the significance of the things they are playing with. In The Nation of Plants, the most important, widespread, and powerful nation on Earth finally gets to speak. Like attentive parents, plants, after making it possible for us to live, have come to our aid once again, giving us their rules: the first Universal Declaration of Rights of Living Beings written by the plants. A short charter based on the general principles that regulate the common life of plants, it establishes norms applicable to all living beings. Compared to our constitutions, which place humans at the center of the entire juridical reality, in conformity with an anthropocentricism that reduces to things all that is not human, plants offer us a revolution.

Download or read book The Science of Plants written by DK and published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd. This book was released on 2022-05-05 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover plants like you've never seen them before in this beautifully-designed introduction to the plant kingdom. Discover the extraordinary diversity of the plant world and how plants work with this photographic celebration of the plants, trees and flowers that share our planet and breathe life into our lungs. The Science of Plants invites you on a breathtaking journey to explore the plant kingdom from the ground up, from root to leaf tip! Published in association with Kew, and illustrated with inspiring photography, this beautiful compilation takes you on a visual journey of some of the world's most peculiar plants and fascinating flora in exquisite detail. Throughout the pages of this plant book, you can expect to find: -Inner workings of wide range of plants explained easily with graphic detail -Galleries showcase diversity in the plant world and visually define botanical terms -Feature spreads on key plants combine dramatic photography with rounded descriptions of our most significant,unusual, and sought-after species This beautiful book of plants showcases every part of each plant in detail, starting with a section on roots, stems and branches, leaves, flowers, followed by seeds. From tiny mosses and delicate ferns to vibrant blooms and stately palms, DK's elegant introduction to botany is packed with striking photos and crystal-clear artworks that explain the mechanics of photosynthesis, why leaves change colour, how cacti store water, and how seeds know when to grow. Filled with fascinating stories of how plants protect themselves from predators, and how flowers use colour and scent to interact with creatures around them, The Science of Plants is a fresh and engaging introduction to the mysterious inner workings of the plant world. A must-have volume for all plant lovers, including naturalists, budding botanists, ecologists as well as gardeners. Doubling up as the ideal gift for the plant-lover in your life, The Science of Plants is a nature book that is sure to delight. At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not explore other terrific titles in our Science Of series? Reveal the secrets of the seas with The Science of The Ocean and explore the animal kingdom like never before with The Science of Animals.

Download or read book How Plants Work written by Stephen Blackmore and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Plants Work is a fascinating enquiry into, and celebration of, the rich complexity of plant life.

Download or read book Air Plants written by David H. Benzing and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often growing far above the ground, "air plants" (or epiphytes) defy many of our common perceptions about plants. The majority use their roots only for attachment in the crowns of larger, usually woody plants-or to objects such as rocks and buildings-and derive moisture and nutrients from the atmosphere and by collecting falling debris. Only the mistletoes are true parasites. Epiphytes are not anomalies and there are approximately 28,000 species-about 10 percent of the higher or vascular plants-that grow this way. Many popular houseplants, including numerous aroids, bromeliads, ferns, and orchids, rank among the most familiar examples. In Air Plants, David H. Benzing takes a reader on a tour of the many taxonomic groups to which the epiphytes belong and explains in nontechnical language the anatomical and physiological adaptations that allow these plants to conserve water, thrive without the benefit of soil, and engage in unusual relationships with animals such as frogs and ants. Benzing's comprehensive account covers topics including ecology, evolution, photosynthesis and water relations, mineral nutrition, reproduction, and the nature of the forest canopy as habitat for the free-living and parasitic epiphytes. It also pays special attention to important phenomena such as adaptive trade-offs and leaf economics. Drawing on the author's deep experience with epiphytes and the latest scientific research, this book is accessible to readers unfamiliar with technical botany; it features a lavish illustration program, references, a glossary, and tables.

Download or read book The Life of Plants written by Emanuele Coccia and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-01-16 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We barely talk about them and seldom know their names. Philosophy has always overlooked them; even biology considers them as mere decoration on the tree of life. And yet plants give life to the Earth: they produce the atmosphere that surrounds us, they are the origin of the oxygen that animates us. Plants embody the most direct, elementary connection that life can establish with the world. In this highly original book, Emanuele Coccia argues that, as the very creator of atmosphere, plants occupy the fundamental position from which we should analyze all elements of life. From this standpoint, we can no longer perceive the world as a simple collection of objects or as a universal space containing all things, but as the site of a veritable metaphysical mixture. Since our atmosphere is rendered possible through plants alone, life only perpetuates itself through the very circle of consumption undertaken by plants. In other words, life exists only insofar as it consumes other life, removing any moral or ethical considerations from the equation. In contrast to trends of thought that discuss nature and the cosmos in general terms, Coccia’s account brings the infinitely small together with the infinitely big, offering a radical redefinition of the place of humanity within the realm of life.