"One goal drove Hosack above all others: to build the Republic's first botanical garden. Despite innumerable obstacles and near-constant resistance, Hosack triumphed when his Elgin Botanic Garden at last crowned twenty acres of Manhattan farmland by 1810. "Where others saw real estate and power, Hosack saw the landscape as a pharmacopoeia able to bring medicine into the modern age" (Eric W. Sanderson, author of Mannahatta). What remains today of America's...

"A fascinating and in-depth look at the endless wonders of the plant kingdom. Join botanist Scott Zona on a journey into the incredible world of plants. [This book] is a fun botanical romp that introduces the science behind how and why plants are at the foundation of all life on Earth. In layman's language, you'll unearth what separates plants from people and how the adaptations they've developed over eons influence what plants look like today and...

Focusing on the human relationship with plants, the author of Second nature uses botany to explore four basic human desires, sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control, through portraits of four plants that embody them, the apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato. Every school child learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers; the bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers' genes far...

This is more than just a useful reference book on the science of botany and the language of horticulture - it is a practical, hands-on guide that will help gardeners understand how plants grow, what affects their performance, and how to get better results. It provides easy-to-understand explanations of over 3,000 botanical words and terms, and shows how these can be applied to everyday gardening practice.

This manual is essentially a condensation of the five-volume work, Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest, prepared by C. Leo Hitchcock, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J. W. Thompson, and published serially from 1955 to 1969 by the University of Washington Press as volume 17 of the University of Washington Publications in Biology. The sequence of families is the same in the two works except for the transposition of the monocotyledons and dicotyledons;...

Since its original publication in 1945, this small classic has acquired a new audience concerned with living in harmony with the environment and interested in the particularly intimate relationship of Native Americans to the land. This survey of the use of plants by Native Americans in western Washington describes the ways in which more than 150 species served as food and medicine, and were used for the manufacture of clothes and other objects.

Discusses different types of roots, how they affect plants, and which ones we eat.

A unique guide to the extraordinary world of plants, from the smallest seeds to the tallest trees. We couldn't live without plants. We need them for food, shelter, and even the air we breathe, yet we know surprisingly little about them. Why do thistles bristle with spines? How do some plants trap and eat insects? Did you know there are trees that are 5,000 years old? Trees, Leaves, Flowers & Seeds explores the mysterious world of plants to find the...

Catherine Kleier, Professor of Biology and former Chair of the Department of Biology at Regis University in Denver, presents an introductory course of lectures on botany.