Flora Mirabilis: How Plants Have Shaped World Knowledge, Health, Wealth, and Beauty
Book DescriptionFlora Mirabilisis a sumptuously designed showcase of superb illustrations paired with fascinating stories of botanical exploration and trade through the ages. A collaboration between National Geographic and the world-renowned Missouri Botanical Garden, this book will prove an evergreen source of delight, not just for gardeners and flower aficionados, but for anyone interested in the plant world, human civilization, and their intertwined histories.From prehistory to the present day,Flora Mirabilisblossoms with legend and lore as it culls the most engrossing mysteries and adventures of plant exploration, science, and discovery and garlands them with astonishingly beautiful illustrations. These lavish pages are abloom with the rich details and engaging allure of beloved flowers, stunning gardens, ancient trees, medicinal herbs, and valuable plants of all varieties from around the world. Unique "plant profiles" chronicle the especially remarkable roles each plant has played in matters of economics, politics, and taste.Illustrated throughout with never-before-published collector’s edition reproductions and introduced with an eloquent foreword by Peter H. Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, this stunning volume will catch eyes and flower in imaginations everywhere.The Top 10 Plants That Shaped the WorldClick on thumbnails for larger imagesBlack pepperDemand for this   flavoring set in motion the great voyages of discovery.SugarcaneIts sweetness begat a   shameful trade in human beings and the plantation system of agriculture.CornA New World cultivar--maize--took   over the planet and is now an all-too-common ingredient in human and animal food products.RubberIts special properties forever   changed the face of transportation, industry, and everyday life (even though synthetics are now in wide   use).CottonNative to both Asia and the   Americas, its seedpods yield a fiber that has clothed the entire world.