Reviews
The refreshing tale of gin-and-tonic (well, half of it…)
Just the tonic, by Kim Walker and Mark Nesbitt 2019. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. What is: carbonated water, citric acid, sodium citrate, natural quinine, and aspartame?
Reviews
Tales of tea, still stirring emotions in 2020
Tea leaves might not predict the future, but they have a powerful connection to our past.
Reviews
How do plants work?
Beauty is more than skin deep in this book explaining how plants function.
Reviews
Mankind and the magnificent mulberry; a plants-and-people tale
Mulberry by Peter Coles 2019. Reaktion Books Ltd. Arguably, the only thing you need to know about Mulberry by Peter Coles is that it’s a
Reviews
The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson
(or Gardening to Save the Planet) On my every growing to-do list is create a wildlife-friendly garden, should I ever move house and have
Reviews
When plants go to war!
Plants go to war: A botanical history of World War II by Judith Sumner, 2019. McFarland & Co. Lest there be any doubt at the outset,
Reviews
Nature Table – BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 has a new science-comedy crossover show.
Plants & People
What real people think about plants
Vickery’s Folk Flora: An A-Z of the Folklore and Uses of British and Irish Plants by Roy Vickery, 2019. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. For the
Plants & People
Ancient botany for the 21st century
Vergil’s Green Thoughts: Plants, Humans, and the Divine by Rebecca Armstrong, 2019. Oxford University Press. When I first heard about Vergil’s Green Thoughts by
Reviews
The extraordinary story of an ‘ordinary’ fruit…
The Extraordinary Story of the Apple by Barrie E. Juniper and David J. Mabberley 2019. Kew Publishing. Having recently read Robert Spengler’s Fruits from the
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When broomcorn millet swept along the Silk Road…
Fruit from the sands: The Silk Road origins of the food we eat by Robert N Spengler III, 2019. University of California Press. In the UK
Reviews
Does the Garden of Eden contain magic medicine trees?
The Ethnobotany of Eden: Rethinking the Jungle Medicine Narrative by Robert Voeks 2018. University of Chicago Press. I suspect that most of us who’ve tried