Flora of Middle-Earth
Subtitle: plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium
By: Walter S. Judd and Graham A. Judd
Contributors: Judd, Graham A., illustrator
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 406
ISBN-13: 9780190276317
Subjects: Botany in literature; Trees in literature; Plants in literature; Ecology in literature
Description: "Few settings in literature are as widely known or celebrated as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The natural landscape plays a major role in nearly all of Tolkien's major works, and readers have come to view the geography of this fictional universe as integral to understanding and enjoying Tolkien's works. And in laying out this continent, Tolkien paid special attention to its plant life; in total, over 160 plants are explicitly mentioned and described as a part of Middle-Earth. Nearly all of these plants are real species, and many of the fictional plants are based on scientifically grounded botanic principles. In Flora of Middle Earth: Plants of Tolkien's Legendarium, botanist Walter Judd gives a detailed species account of every plant found in Tolkien's universe, complete with the etymology of the plant's name, a discussion of its significance within Tolkien's work, a description of the plant's distribution and ecology, and an original hand-drawn illustration by artist Graham Judd in the style of a woodcut print. Among the over three-thousand vascular plants Tolkien would have seen in the British Isles, the authors show why Tolkien may have selected certain plants for inclusion in his universe over others, in terms of their botanic properties and traditional uses. The clear, comprehensive alphabetical listing of each species, along with the visual identification key of the plant drawings, adds to the reader's understanding and appreciation of the Tolkien canon."--

"This book catalogs every plant found in J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, showing how these plants influenced Tolkien's stories and characters"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The importance of plants in J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium; title: Plant communities of Middle-earth; title: The diversity of life, with a focus on the green plants; title: Introduction to plant morphology: learning the language of plant descriptions; title: Identification of the Plants of Middle-earth; title: Telperion and Laurelin: the two trees of Valinor; title: The plants of Middle-earth; title: A note from the illustrator.