Showing titles in Botany & Plants

In this collection of natural-history essays, biologist Joan Maloof embarks on a series of lively, fact-filled expeditions into forests of the eastern United States. Through Maloof's engaging, conversational style, each essay offers a lesson in stewardship as it explores the interwoven connections between a tree species and the animals and insects whose lives depend on it - and who, in turn, work to ensure the tree's survival.

This is the only succulent beginner's guide that you need! Get ready to jump-start your succulent-caring journey. You'll be fascinated and thrilled about what you can achieve by raising your own succulents. Succulents can provide you with a sense of peace and bring out the best in your interior design.

Amanita muscaria mushrooms have a long history of being used as a hallucinogen throughout most of the northern hemisphere, and the impact of this usage can still be observed today. Everything from religion, culture, magic, witchcraft, fairy tales etc. have all likely been shaped in some way by these mushrooms. But many of these stories have been told countless times, so I will instead put my main focus on covering many aspects of these mushrooms that are so often missed.

For over half a century, landmark natural history series Living World has provided an inspiring introduction to the flora and fauna of Great Britain and beyond. Filmed on location at key ecological sites, it sees BBC wildlife presenters joined by guest experts for enthusiastic discussions and close encounters with our native wildlife. These classic archive programmes have all been specially selected by Chris Packham, who introduces each episode and gives us an overview of the places, people and species featured on the show.

Fungipedia presents a delightful A-Z treasury of mushroom lore. With more than 180 entries - on topics as varied as Alice in Wonderland, chestnut blight, medicinal mushrooms, poisonings, Santa Claus, and waxy caps - this collection will transport both general listeners and specialists into the remarkable universe of fungi. Combining ecological, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary knowledge, author and mycologist Lawrence Millman discusses how mushrooms are much more closely related to humans than to plants, how they engage in sex, how insects farm them, and more.

Balancing a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence, Fruit from the Sands presents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants in archaeological sites, Robert N. Spengler III identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world. Vividly narrated, Fruit from the Sands explores how the foods we eat have shaped the course of human history.

Mushrooms aren’t just easy to grow and delicious to eat. Even for beginners, they represent an opportunity to start a lucrative business that is much easier than many other types of farming, which requires only limited experience or knowledge and doesn’t require acres of land to get started. Whether you want to grow mushrooms as a hobby, give yourself an additional source of food that is readily available, or start a small-scale business, Growing Mushrooms is the perfect book to get you going and provides all you will need in the initial stages and beyond.

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.

Before 1910 the American chestnut was one of the most common trees in the eastern United States. An important natural resource, chestnut wood was preferred for woodworking, fencing, and building construction, as it was rot resistant and straight grained. The hearty and delicious nuts also fed wildlife, people, and livestock.

Turning your gardening passion into a prolific business doesn’t have to be rocket science. We’ll teach you everything about how to grow lavender for profit. If you decided to turn your gardening passion, congratulations! Lavender is the best place to start. While the plant thanks you with its alluring fragrance for nurturing it, it is virtually every industry’s favorite, making it one of the most profitable plants to grow. This lovely member of the mint family will make itself desirable fresh or dried, in soap, incense, or potpourri.

The Wild Kindness: A Psilocybin Odyssey is the lyrical, unforgettable memoir of Bett Williams's relationship with psilocybin mushrooms, otherwise known as magic mushrooms. In pursuit of self-healing, she begins experimenting with mushrooms in solitary ceremonies by the fire. Word soon gets out about her New Mexican desert mushroom farm, though, and people arrive in droves. Not long after, the police read her her Miranda Rights, her relationships fall out of whack, and her dog Rosie just might be CIA.

Como botánico, Robin Wall Kimmerer ha sido entrenado para hacer preguntas de la naturaleza con las herramientas de la ciencia. Como miembro de la Nación Ciudadana Potawatomi, abraza la idea de que las plantas y los animales son nuestros maestros más antiguos. En Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer reúne estas dos lentes de conocimiento para llevarnos a "un viaje tan mítico como científico, tan sagrado como histórico, tan inteligente como sabio" (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Florapedia is an eclectic A-Z compendium of botanical lore. With more than 100 enticing entries - on topics ranging from achlorophyllous plants that use a fungus as an intermediary to obtain nutrients from other plants to zygomorphic flowers that admit only the most select pollinators - this collection is a captivating journey into the realm of botany. Writing in her incomparably engaging style, Carol Gracie discusses remarkable plants from around the globe, botanical art and artists, early botanical explorers, ethnobotanical uses of plants, botanical classification, and more.

From woodland mushrooms and riverbank redcurrants to garden weeds and urban cherry blossoms, Where the Wild Things Grow takes us on a journey through the forager's landscape. Drawing on 25 years of foraging experience, David Hamilton tells us how and where to hunt for the food that is hidden all around us. Along the way he delves into the forgotten histories and science of wild foods and their habitats and reveals his many foraging secrets, tips and recipes.

Susan S. Scott is an experienced psychotherapist who, due to a back injury, was forced to abandon her therapist's couch and walk for therapy. Through her extended strolls through nature, she discovered the ingenious ability of trees to grow around obstacles and, in essence, heal themselves. The result of Dr. Scott's musings is Healing with Nature. This collection of stories and photos describes a different aspect of the healing process.

Collections of preserved plant specimens, known as herbaria, have existed for nearly five centuries. These pressed and labeled plants have been essential resources for scientists, allowing them to describe and differentiate species and to document and research plant changes and biodiversity over time—including changes related to climate. Maura C. Flannery tells the history of herbaria, from the earliest collections belonging to such advocates of the technique as sixteenth-century botanist Luca Ghini, to the collections of poets, politicians, and painters, and to the digitization today.

In the aftermath of the horrific trench warfare of the First World War, the poppy - sprouting across the killing fields of France and Belgium, then immortalized in John McCrae’s moving poem - became a worldwide icon. Yet the poppy has a longer history: as the telltale sign of human cultivation of the land, of the ravages of war, and of the desire to escape the earthly realm through Romantic opium dreams or the grim reality of morphine drips.

Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even experts are duped by liars and counterfeits. Deeply reported and elegantly written, this exposé documents the dark, sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffle’s path from ground to plate, making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity, seduction, and cash.

With this comprehensive wilderness food guide, you can guarantee your survival and eat well in the wild. The simple fact of life is - everyone has to eat. But what happens if you get lost in the wilderness without supplies to help you survive...Or a natural disaster suddenly cuts you off from modern conveniences and help services...What if a camping, hiking, or a weekend outdoor trip ends up in an emergency where you have to fend for yourself in the great outdoors...The truth is, you only have a limited amount of time before you become just another statistic.

In this practical guide, you will discover how mushrooms develop, cultivation techniques, ideal soil and climatic conditions, the best species to grow at home, and the exceptional health benefits of some varieties. Not many know how easy it is to grow tasty mushrooms independently in their own homes. Most people prefer to buy mushrooms of dubious origin in shopping malls rather than organically self-producing the healthiest and tastiest species.