Displays

Over the last 25 years, archaeologists and historians have been increasingly aware of the importance of woodland in the developing British landscape. No one has devoted more research to this subject then Richard Muir. In this magisterial study, matched by numerous informative and evocative illustrations, the author begins by disposing of the myth that in prehistoric times Britain was swathed in a virtually impenetrable wildwood. In fact, from the earliest times woodland has been manipulated and transformed. The author looks at landmark trees, then examines ancient trees and hedgerows before charting the early development of trees in the park, and then later parkland and forestry.

Apples and Orchards in Sussex came about in response to the current challenges facing people who eat fruit as well as fruit growers - the grubbing up of commercial orchards, the scarcity of heritage varieties of apples associated with Sussex, the domination of imports in shops, and the loss of domestic skills such as cooking with apples. After years of creating community orchards, we wanted to find out more about our fruit-growing past and to look at ways in which people today might contribute to future orchards - both as a treasured landscape feature and as a source of fruit. Prof. Brian Short has trawled the archives of the Kew Gardens, the Royal Horticultural Society and museums to build up a detailed picture of how orchards originally came to England and to Sussex. Oral historians have gathered the stories of people across Sussex with inside knowledge of fruit-growing in our past and present and together we point practical ways to a rich fruit-growing future. Contains the first definitive list and photos of Sussex apple varieties; Illustrations from historic archives; Watercolours by botanical artist Nicky Ashford; Maps of Sussex showing historical orchard distribution; Interviews with growers past and present; Information on where to learn orchard skills and where to buy local fruit and trees; How to contribute to a more durable and nature-friendly fruit-growing future.

This study explores the science and culture of nineteenth-century British arboretums, or tree collections. The development of arboretums was fostered by a variety of factors, each of which is explored in detail: global trade and exploration, the popularity of collecting, the significance to the British economy and society, developments in Enlightenment science, changes in landscape gardening aesthetics and agricultural and horticultural improvement. Arboretums were idealized as microcosms of nature, miniature encapsulations of the globe and as living museums. This book critically examines different kinds of arboretum in order to understand the changing practical, scientific, aesthetic and pedagogical principles that underpinned their design, display and the way in which they were viewed. It is the first study of its kind and fills a gap in the literature on Victorian science and culture.

Contains profiles of 229 species, with a full page devoted to most trees. More than 1300 separate illustrations, and close-up detail of leaf, flower, seeds and bark are included. Leaf and needle keys are also given for identification purposes.

This authoritative southern African tree guide is written and photographed by leading tree experts. Newly updated and expanded, it covers some 900 species, as well as subspecies and variations. Arranged in groups based on easy-to-observe leaf and stem characters, species are concisely described and illustrated with full-color photographs, and distribution maps showing their range. Supplementary features include useful notes on tree identification and an illustrated glossary. It is designed with the non-specialist in mind: trees are arranged in color-coded groups based on easy-to-observe leaf and stem characters. Each species account is illustrated with at least one full-color photograph of the plant's most readily identifiable part or parts, as well as an image of the full tree, and a distribution map shows its range. The concise text also touches on the practical uses of plants; supplementary features include useful notes on tree identification and an extensive illustrated glossary. Authoritative, classic guide written by leading experts includes comprehensive photography for all species, showing both close-up details and full trees and carefully designed keys to enable accurate identification.

The world-leading scientist of plant communication and intelligence reveals how she discovered the secrets of the forest. No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees than the world-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard. Now she shares the secrets of a lifetime spent uncovering startling truths about trees: their cooperation, healing capacity, memory, wisdom and sentience. Raised in the forests of British Columbia, Simard was working in the forest service when she first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest. Though her ground-breaking findings were initially dismissed and even ridiculed, they are now firmly supported by the data. As her remarkable journey shows us, science is not a realm apart from ordinary life, but deeply connected with our humanity. In Finding the Mother Tree, she reveals how the complex cycle of forest life - on which we rely for our existence - offers profound lessons about resilience and kinship, and must be preserved before it's too late.

Today many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world as never before. And yet nature remains deeply ingrained in our language, culture and consciousness. For centuries, we have acted on an intuitive sense that we need communion with the wild to feel well. Now, in the moment of our great migration away from the rest of nature, more and more scientific evidence is emerging to confirm its place at the heart of our psychological wellbeing. So what happens, asks acclaimed journalist Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world-might we also be losing part of ourselves? Delicately observed and rigorously researched, Losing Eden is an enthralling journey through this new research, exploring how and why connecting with the living world can so drastically affect our health. Travelling from forest schools in East London to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault via primeval woodlands, Californian laboratories and ecotherapists' couches, Jones takes us to the cutting edge of human biology, neuroscience and psychology, and discovers new ways of understanding our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with the earth. Urgent and uplifting, Losing Eden is a rallying cry for a wilder way of life - for finding asylum in the soil and joy in the trees - which might just help us to save the living planet, as well as ourselves.

Describes the English oak tree and how it grows, and depicts some of the wide variety of creatures that live in oak forests, as well as the fungi and mosses that grow among them.

An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back to life by creatures of air and light. A hearing-and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another. An air force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. The story of these and five other strangers, each summoned in different ways by the natural world, who are brought together in a last stand to save it from catastrophe.

There have been many studies of the English landscape garden of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, but most of these have concentrated on the tastes of owners or the technical plans of designers. This illustrated book by Douglas D.C. Chambers instead discusses the philosophy of gardening and landscaping that developed during this period, the gardeners who made the gardens, and the new planting materials available to them.

The passionate response of the British public to the Newbury Bypass is a revealing measure of how strongly people feel about trees and the environment. Similarly, in the United States, the giant sequoia of California is an enduring national symbol that inspires intense feelings. As rainforests are sacrificed to the interests of multi-national corporations and traditional ways of life disappear, the status of forests, the cultural significance of trees, and the impact of conservation policies are subjects that have inspired intense engagement. Why do people feel so strongly about trees? With this explosion of interest in environmental issues, a serious study of what trees mean to people has long been overdue. This interdisciplinary book responds to this need by providing the first cross-cultural analysis of tree symbolism. Drawing on rich case studies, contributors explore the processes through which trees are used as metaphors of identity and continuity. Political struggles over forest resources feature prominently, and the perceptions of trees in various cultures provide telling insights into the ways in which human societies conceptualize nature.As well as being a major contribution to the field of symbolic anthropology, this comprehensive study will be essential reading for students in a wide range of courses and for anyone with a keen interest in the politics of ecology, the occult and neo-paganism, and the history and sociology of environmentalism in its widest sense.

Trees were central to Henry David Thoreau's creativity as a writer, his work as a naturalist, his thought, and his inner life. His portraits of them were so perfect, it was as if he could see the sap flowing beneath their bark. When Thoreau wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own shadow in the air, he was speaking about himself. In short, he spoke their language. In this original book, Richard Higgins explores Thoreau's deep connections to trees: his keen perception of them, the joy they gave him, the poetry he saw in them, his philosophical view of them, and how they fed his soul. His lively essays show that trees were a thread connecting all parts of Thoreau's being--heart, mind, and spirit. Included are one hundred excerpts from Thoreau's writings about trees, paired with over sixty of the author's photographs. Thoreau's words are as vivid now as they were in 1890, when an English naturalist wrote that he was unusually able to "to preserve the flashing forest colors in unfading light." Thoreau and the Language of Trees shows that Thoreau, with uncanny foresight, believed trees were essential to the preservation of the world.

The definitive, fully-illustrated guide to the trees of Britain and non-Mediterranean Europe.

This brand-new field guide to the trees of northern Europe contains some of the finest original tree illustrations ever produced. The introduction contains illustrations of the main leaves, buds, and firs you are likely to find, and these provide the starting point for identification by leading you to a 'key' species.

Within each tree family there is a list of key species and a guide to the most important features to look for when identifying a particular tree from that family. Then individual species are clearly described and a detailed illustration is given on the same page.

Covering all the tree species found outside the major arboretums, from the olive tree to the eucalyptus, this is one of the most important tree guides to have appeared in the last 20 years. The illustrations are annotated with essential identification features, and the text highlights the most important things to look for to aid fast and accurate identification. There is also coverage of all the species native to Southern Europe.

The seminal ideas of this book played a key role in the development of group theory since the 70s. Several generations of mathematicians learned geometric ideas in group theory from this book. In it, the author proves the fundamental theorem for the special cases of free groups and tree products before dealing with the proof of the general case. This new edition is ideal for graduate students and researchers in algebra, geometry and topology.

Trees are familiar components of many landscapes, vital to the healthy functioning of the global ecosystem and unparalled in the range of materials which they provide for human use. Yet how much do we really understand about how they work? This 2000 book provides a comprehensive introduction to the natural history of trees, presenting information on all aspects of tree biology and ecology in an easy to read and concise text. Fascinating insights into the workings of these everyday plants are uncovered throughout the book, with questions such as how are trees designed, how do they grow and reproduce, and why do they eventually die tackled in an illuminating way. Written for a non-technical audience, the book is nonetheless rigorous in its treatment and will therefore provide a valuable source of reference for beginning students as well as those with a less formal interest in this fascinating group of plants.

Long accepted as the best work on the subject, Oliver Rackham's book is both a comprehensive history of Britain's woodland and a field-work guide that presents trees individually and as part of the landscape.

From prehistoric times, through the Roman period and into the Middle Ages, Oliver Rackham describes the changing character, role and history of trees and woodland. He concludes this definitive study with a section on the conservation and future of Britain's trees, woodlands and hedgerows.