My fascination with the plant kingdom began when I was a child, whilst researching rainforests for a school project. I was awed by the giant rafflesia flowers of South-east Asia and the valuable kapok trees of the Americas. Imagine my hurry, then, to find out which plants were included in Jonathan Drori's latest dive into the planet's flora: Around the World in 80 Plants, a follow-up to his popular exploration of trees. Scanning down the contents, my head nodded in delight at spotting some favourites, although I also regretted the absence of others, before remembering that this collection could cover less than one-tenth of a per cent of the 350,000 species of vascular plants that have been described, with more added each year.
Structured by continent, this book guides the reader around the world, dipping into the stories of the tiny, the towering, the parasitic and the submarine. Starting this journey with the common stinging nettle might seem like an underwhelming choice, but right away the reader learns of the surprising and complex ecological strategies and rich history surrounding this humble plant. Across each continent, this theme continues, with the previously mundane or familiar species often revealing the most memorable stories. Just looking around my kitchen, I can now tell you there are over 120 different species of coffee, that a banana will glow pale blue under ultraviolet light and that nutmeg may have inspired a well-known pepper-picking tongue twister.
With the history and culture surrounding so many plants interwoven and entangled across continents, the reader is not taken on a linear path across the globe. There is some back and forth as we learn that tulips, which so many associate with the Netherlands, actually originate from the mountainsides of Central Asia, and that vanilla, although native to Central America, is mostly cultivated in Madagascar, where the flowers are painstakingly hand-pollinated every day. We also read of the terrible consequences that transporting plants to new places can bring, through the stories of the prickly pear and water hyacinth.
Helping to paint the picture of not just what each plant looks like, but how it is used, where it sits in the landscape and how it interacts with wildlife, are Lucille Clerc's beautiful illustrations. From the unfurling leaves of the silver tree fern to the colours and impossible shapes of some unique and strange-looking orchids, these drawings add yet another layer of delight.
Scattered among the great and the good of the plant kingdom are notes of warning: of how we cannot continue to ferociously harvest the remaining one per cent of the world's carbon-rich peat bogs, of how soybean and oil palm super crops can devastate ecosystems if not managed sustainably, and of how a failure to recognize the interdependencies of plants and their environments could spell disaster for the carefully evolved natural systems we so often take for granted. We are reminded, however, of the hope and opportunities that plants bring to help us solve the world's most pressing challenges. Those 120 species of coffee could improve resilience to climate change within cultivated strains, dandelions might be an unexpected, sustainable source of rubber, and the leaf structure of the lotus is already inspiring the development of self-cleaning, and therefore more eco-friendly, materials.
As with much of the natural world, the more one learns about the individual plant species and the stories that tell of our interactions with them—whether positive or negative—the more intriguing they become. Around the World in 80 Plants makes me want to find out yet more about the plants that are so often overlooked as a green background, or seen merely as scenery to frame the animals, yet are vital for supporting life on Earth. As this book so wonderfully shows, they are more than life-support machines: they provide colour, flavour and magic to our everyday lives, and we need to learn to appreciate them.
Open access
