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Flora Britannica covers the native and naturalised plants of England, Scotland and Wales, and, while full of fascinating history, is topical and modern. Indeed, Flora Britannica is the definitive contemporary flora, an encyclopaedia of living folklore, a register - a sort of Domesday Book. It is unique in that it is not a botanical flora but a cultural one - an account of the role of wild plants in social life, arts, custom and landscape. It is also unique in that information has been show more supplied by the people themselves. Five years of intensive original research have aroused popular interest and 'grassroots' involvement on an exceptional scale. People all over Britain - both rural and urban - have been encouraged to record and celebrate the cultural dimensions of their own flora, and to send their memories and anecdotes, observations and regional knowledge to Flora Britannica. The result is a nationwide record of the popular culture, domestic uses and social meanings of our wild plants. It is both useful and delightful - superbly written by one of the most outstanding English authors on natural history and illustrated with nearly 500 photographs. Including trees and ferns, it covers 1,000 species, many of them in considerable detail. A new flora for the people, Flora Britannica is a testimony to the continuing relationship between nature and human beings, and a celebration that the seasons and the landscape, local character and identity, still matter in Britain. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A substantial and authoritative work. A very hefty volume, so certainly not a field guide, but one that will be useful addition to the bookshelf of any lover of native British plants, trees and flowers.
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Author Information
67+ Works 3,491 Members
Richard Mabey is one of Great Britain's foremost nature writers and editors. Mabey has written "The New Age Herbalist: How to Use Herbs for Healing, Nutrition, Body Care, and Relaxation," "In the Oxford Book of Nature Writing," which won the Whitbread Biography Award, and the BBC's television series, "Postcards from the Country." (Bowker Author show more Biography) show less
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Awards
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Flora Britannica
- Alternate titles
- Flora Britannica : the definitive new guide to wild flowers, plants and trees (dust jacket) (dust jacket)
- Original publication date
- 1996
- Important places
- Great Britain
- Epigraph
- [None]
- Dedication
- [None]
- First words
- On the 50th anniversary of VE Day, many of the world's leaders gathered in London's Hyde Park for a memorial ceremony and, in the spring sunshine, laid posies on their national flowers around a large globe.
Introdu... (show all)ction.
Field horsetail, Equisetum arvense (VN: Mare's-tail, Lego plant). Field horsetail is an adundant plant of waste and disturbed ground, but still a surprising one, seeming like two different species growing in the... (show all) same spot.
Horsetail family Equisetaceae. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)If so, there is something rather miraculous about this small corner of Scotland in a 'foreign' field where the thistles still bloom defiantly above the slow drift of the Nene.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 188
- Popularity
- 173,604
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.33)
- Languages
- Chinese, English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 2
