Kew Publishing - reviews
Read the latest reviews covering titles from Kew Publishing.
Peonies of the World: Polymorphism and Diversity, by Hong De-Yuan (£70.00, November 2011)
'...this book is not just for the taxonomist, there are images which will get the plant breeder's pulse racing...a must-have for anyone with a serious interest in peonies.'
Gail Harland, The Peony(The Newsletter of the Peony Society), March 2012
Read the full review (pdf)
Guide to the Flowers of Western China, by Christopher Grey-Wilson and Phillip Cribb (£70.00, July 2011)
'...the expert up-market book of the year and an essential item for the many who now go or dream of going to see China’s unsurpassably lovely flora in the wild'.
Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times, 2 December 2011
'This is an essential purchase for anyone who has visited, or plans to travel to, western China. I have used it daily to identify photographs taken there earlier this summer, and have found it quite indispensable'.
John Richards, The Plantsman, December 2011
Read the full review (pdf)
The Smallest Kingdom, by Mike and Liz Fraser (£28.00, July 2011)
Finalist for Inspirational Book of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards, 2011
'A beautiful book...Anyone who knows the Cape, or is planning to visit, should put this on their Christmas list'.
John Hoyland, Gardens Illustrated, November 2011
Read the full review (pdf)
'An extraordinary and enjoyable new book on plant hunters'.
Tom Karwin, Monterey County Herald, 15 October 2011
'It is beautifully produced and the text is easy and enjoyable to read. Anyone interested in the history of horticulture in general as well as in the cultivation of South African plants will enjoy this book'.
Isobyl la Croix, The Plantsman, December 2011
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'...a very informative and enjoyable read...I will continue to return to it time and time again, to enjoy the lovely range of illustrations, high quality of its content and the enthusiastic way the information is presented'.
Jonathan Hutchinson, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, October 2011 Volume 28 Part 3
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Arie Dwarswaard, BloembollenVisie, December 2011
Read the review (in Dutch) (pdf)
- The Smallest Kingdom - Look inside (pdf)
The Last Great Plant Hunt: The story of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, by Carolyn Fry, Sue Seddon & Gail Vines (£28.00, May 2011)
'A lavish, inspiring celebration of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank...I found this book truly inspiring...there is no scientific enterprise more important to the planet than ensuring that future generations will still have seeds to sow.'
Phil Gates, BBC Wildlife magazine, August 2011
''Seedbanking' is a specialist subject, but in this book it is anything but dull ...Intelligently written and accessible...an excellent addition to any library of popular botany'.
Naomi Slade, The Garden, January 2012
'The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has produced a handsome volume to celebrate the success of its Millennium Seed Bank Project...well illustrated and most readable.'
Mary Davies, The Irish Garden, September 2011
'This is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated account...of the Partnership..the biology of seeds...of people who work with them...Highly recommended'.
Ian Lancaster, School Science Review, September 2011
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'The Last Great Plant Hunt, charts the history of Kew's seed bank and the subsequent formation of a partnership, a global network that continues to prosper...settle back and absorb this 192-pager which takes us across the globe.'
Graham Andrews, North Devon Journal, 21 July 2011
'This book follows the fascinating story of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank...learn about some of the most beautiful and threatened habitats and plants on Earth.'
Surrey Nature, Summer 2011
'No one could fail to be impressed by this book. The information contained within it is staggering.'
Pat Mansey, The Cottage Gardener, September 2011
'This is a glorious example of a coffee table book at its best...I could not put this charming book down'.
Sarah Taylor, Ecological Society Bulletin 2011
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- The Last Great Plant Hunt - Look inside
Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland: The Tree Register handbook, by Owen Johnson (£25.00, May 2011)
‘...Britain’s most spectacular trees, identified in a new study of prime specimens across the country. The research, by the Tree Register of the British Isles, has singled out the country’s “superlative” trees – those which hold the national record in categories including size, age, height and girth...
...6,000 of the best examples of different tree species in each region.’
Jasper Copping, The Sunday Telegraph
‘The new edition of Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland identifies our most remarkable specimens...
The Tree Register has teamed up with Kew Gardens to publish a record of this rich arboriculture...
...classifies more than 5,000 varieties, from ancient yews to towering sequoias, and shows where to find them, region by region.’
Hannah Olivennes, The Observer
‘...top trunks are Britain’s biggest, oldest, tallest, thickest and rarest trees. Tree registrar Owen Johnson studied nearly 4,000 to find the record holders for a new book.’
Ben Jackson, The Sun
'Just champion... Yorkshire’s top trees in limelight
...the book sums up the mammoth research which has gone into the online Tree Register of the British Isles'.
Chris Benfield, Yorkshire Post
'Johnson has produced a remarkable compilation of facts and figures about the champion trees of this islands...this is a useful and well illustrated book that all tree enthusiasts need.'
John Grimshaw, The Plantsman, September 2011
'A splendid browse'.
The Irish Garden, December 2011
'Find out what trees grow where, how long they live and how big they become'
Surrey Nature, Autumn 2011
- Champion Trees of Britain and Ireland - Look inside
Alpines, from mountain to garden, by Richard Wilford (£29.00, October 2010)
'This is a thoughtful, carefully considered work of great horticultural and botanical merit...bejewelled with images, several so beautiful that they made me gasp aloud'.
Matthew Biggs, Gardens Illustrated, January 2011
'Could this be the book we have been looking for? Beautifully produced, packed with fine pictures of plants and their habitats; the sort of book that we could leave on our coffee table, knowing that our visitors would be captivated.'
David Rankin, The Rock Garden, July 2011
'Wilford’s writing reflects his experience of more than 20 years at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with a vivid melange of science with enthusiasm...“it is seldom that so enchanting a volume as this can be added to our bookshelves, a rich source of information and inspiration for horticulturists as well as travellers in spirit”.'
Andreas Gröger, The Quarterly Review of Biology, December 2011
'This is a handsome book, good enough for any coffee table. However, it is far more than just a beautifully illustrated coffee table book: it is an important contribution to the literature on alpine plants...a book to be enjoyed.'
Ross Ferguson, New Zealand Garden Journal, 14 (1) 2011
'...a handsome volume which will undoubtedly delight many alpine aficionados'.
Christopher Grey-Wilson, The Garden, January 2012
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Arie Dwarswaard, BloembollenVisie, December 2010
Read the review (in Dutch)
Door Hanneke Jelles, De Tuin Exclusief, Summer 2011
Read the review (in Dutch)
- Alpines, from mountain to garden - Look inside
Why People Need Plants, by Carlton Wood and Nicolette Habgood (£17.00, July 2010)
Association of Cultural Enterprises Publication of the Year 2010
Finalist for Plants and Well Being Award (in association with the Open University Plants and People short course) at the Garden Media Guild Awards 2010
'...an encyclopaedia of plant science...clearly and simply explained...an essential part of any modern biology department or school library...others will buy it as a lively and beautiful book to browse and enjoy.'
John Hewitson, School Science Review, June 2011
'...not ‘just a textbook’, it is written in an accessible way and can be recommended to all those who want to learn more about plants and people'.
Nigel Chaffey, Annals of Botany, January 2012 Volume 109 Issue 1
Read the full review (pdf)
- Why People Need Plants - Look inside
The Kew Plant Glossary, by Henk Beentje with illustrations by Juliet Williamson (£18.00, April 2010)
Winner of Reference Book of the Year prize at the Garden Media Guild Awards 2010
Highly Commended in the Information Services Group Reference Print Awards for 2010
'The well qualified author approaches his subject with a light touch that makes this work altogether a pleasure to use'.
'Catnip for the gardening geek...this fascinating, authoritative volume may seduce even the most casual browser..'
The New York Times, May 2010
'The Kew Plant Glossary is a great help to many flora and journal editors and writers...if authors and readers use a standard glossary like this, much confusion will be prevented.'
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 164, 2010
'The Plant Glossary may be unique among its competitors in its inclusion of a two page summary of Colour Terms...I can recommend it without reservation because its content to price ratio is outstanding.'
Neil Snow, Systematic Botany 36 (1), 2011
Peonies of the World, by Hong De-Yuan (£90.00, April 2010)
'Taking this book down the rows of species growing in the field I found I could name and confidently identify species grown from seed where other books had left doubts and question marks...this book is a like a breath of fresh air on what can be a rather stale subject.'
Jo Bennison, The Peony (The Newsletter of the Peony Society), September 2010
'Every species is illustrated with fine line drawings...an accurate and more reliable taxonomy of the genus.'
Dr Gian Lupo Osti, The Plantsman, December 2010
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Wilson's China - A Century On, by Mark Flanagan and Tony Kirkham (£28.00, September 2009)
'The text is evocative, enjoyable and up to date - altogether a most enjoyable book.'
Keith Rushforth, The Garden, April 2010
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'This fascinating travelogue, with plants as an added extra, is undoubtedly the horticultural read of the year.'
Val Bourne, Telegraph Gardening, November 14 2009
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'This is a most unusual garden book... combines the "official" world of plant collecting for Kew with the personal obsession of its authors.'
Tim Richardson, Telegraph Gardening, December 5 2009
'A great winter read.'
Roy Lancaster, Gardens Illustrated, December 2009
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'An easy and enjoyable read...the illustrations alone make it a book to treasure.'
Ross Ferguson, New Zealand Garden Journal, Vol 13 (1), 2010
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See also:
Living Woods Magazine, May/June 2010
Heather Angel's Wild Kew, by Heather Angel (£10.00, August 2009)
'Every photographer, wildlife enthusiast and naturalist will love this book - a stunning array of photography and advice'
Surrey Nature, Spring 2010
The Art of Plant Evolution, by W. John Kress and Shirley Sherwood (PB £24.95; HB £32.00, August 2009)
A garden that is as pretty as a picture
TimesOnline, 30 August 2009
The Genus Jasminum, by Peter Green and Diana Miller (£36.00, June 2009)
'This is a book that I can recommend to all growers and admirers of these plants.'
Charlie Pridham, The Plantsman, June 2010
New Trees: recent introductions to cultivation, by John Grimshaw and Ross Bayton (£110.00, May 2009)
Shortlisted at the 2009 Garden Media Guild Awards in the Reference Book of the Year category.
'It is an admirable piece of work for the breadth and depth of its scholarship and for its readability...a treasure-house of information of tree and large shrub species.'
Ursula Buchan, The Daily Telegraph, 16 November 2009
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'A hugely important reference work on new tree introductions, their cultivation and conservation...huge amount of information, brought together in the most engaging of ways.'
Jim Gardiner, The Garden, November 2009
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'This is the book all adventurous tree-lovers have been waiting for.'
Roy Lancaster, Gardens Illustrated, December 2009
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See also:
Chris Brickell, The Plantsman, September 2009
Daniel J Hinkley, Pacific Horticulture, Oct/Nov/Dec 2009
Bobby J Ward, Horticulture, Feb/Mar 2010
Pocket Guide to Rhododendron Species, by J.F.J. McQuire and M.L.A. Robinson (£65.00, April 2009)
'This is a most interesting book, as it will be very useful both to the rhododendron expert as well as anyone who is just beginning to get "hooked" by the genus.'
Glen Jamieson, Journal American Rhododendron Society, Winter 2010
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'This book is a godsend...will rapidly become a favourite of both professionals and amateur enthusiasts alike.'
Doug Thomson, Dunedin Rhododendron Group Bulletin
Genera Palmarum. Evolution and Classification of the palms. By John Dransfield, Natalie W. Uhl, Conny B. Asmussen, William J. Baker, Madeline Harley and Carl Lewis (£79.00, July 2008)
Winner of the 2009 Technical category CBHL(The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries) Annual Award for a Significant Work in Botanical or Horticultural Literature.
'Anyone with an interest in palms, whether modern or fossil, should own this book. It is the most complete coverage of the family.'
David M. Jarzen, AASP - The Palynological Society Newsletter, Vol 42, No. 4, December 2009
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'Excellent reference book to the palm family...the standard reference text for information on palm systematics and diversity for the coming decade.'
M.C. Roos, Blumea, 31 (1), 2009
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'This book is a masterful achievement not only at the level of the data it assembles but also in the way it is presented and laid out.'
Thomas L. P. Couvreur, Adansonia, 55, 2010
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Moore at Kew, by Anita Feldman and Suzanne Eustace (£15.50, September 2007)
'Moore Paper - Robert Horne's Revive 50:50 Silk paper has been used in a catalogue showing work by sculptor Henry Moore, whose work is being exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew... printed by FSC-accredited BAS Printers, based in Romsey, Hampshire. It has used vegetable-based inks and claims 100% of the electricity used came from renewable sources.'
PrintWeek, 01 November 2007
Orchids of Madagascar, Second Edition, by Johan and Clare Hermans, David Du Puy, Phillip Cribb and Jean Bosser (£88.00, October 2007)
'Immaculately researched... An indispensible reference book for botanists and specialists in the orchids of this beautiful country.'
Henry Oakeley, Orchid Society of Great Britain Journal, Vol 56 (4) 2007/8
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Ophrys: the bee orchids of Europe, by Henrik Ærenlund Pedersen and Niels Faurholdt (£36.00, July 2007)
'This well-produced book can also double as a field guide, being of pocket size and strongly bound in a flexible lightweight cover. I think that it is a timely reminder to European orchid enthusiasts that there are other views on species’ delimitation than those currently promulgated in the most popular field guides.'
Phillip Cribb, The Orchid Review, Vol 116 (1279) Jan/Feb 2008
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'This publication is a serious attempt by the authors to make a scientific examination of the genus Ophrys... invaluable for identifying Ophrys and is certainly an essential for an orchid library.'
Eileen Watson, Orchid Society of Great Britain Journal, Vol 56 (4) Dec 2007/Jan 2008
See also:
Edzard Bos, Orchideeën, Vol 43 (2) 2008 (in Dutch)
Kids' Kew: a children's guide, by Miranda MacQuitty (£3.95, April 2007, Revised April 2010)
'Which plants did dinosaurs love to eat and which plants like to eat insects? Find out the answers in Kids’ Kew (Kew Publishing, £3.95) by science writer and biologist Miranda MacQuitty. Her new children’s guide-book (for seven to 11 year olds) unlocks the gates to Kew’s plant life, covering topics from Key Stage Two. A fold-out map of the garden and 60 special stickers are included.'
The Lady, 15 May 2007
'It’s bright and busy, packed full of photographs, illustrations, a fold out map and information... Kids’ Kew also carries an important conservation message. It teaches children about projects that help save plants in the wild...here’s a way of being seen to be green.'
What's On in London, 5 April 2007
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'With this sparkling new guide book, the adventure doesn’t stop when the Gardens close for the night. Kids can take their book home as a reminder of a brilliant adventure and continue to use it to make their home more plant friendly and to help the environment.'
The Visitor, April 2007
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The Genus Roscoea, by Jill Cowley (£38.50, April 2007)
'I think this is an excellent book and if you like plants it is a book that you will want to add to your shelves for the illustrations alone...with the key to the species, the concise descriptions, illustrations and pictures you should be able to identify accurately any Roscoeas you may find…I rate it a must have book.'
Ian Young, The Scottish Rock Garden Club Bulb Log Diary, Bulb Log 22, 30 May 2007
Flowering Plant Families of the World, by V. H. Heywood, R. K. Brummitt, A. Culham and O. Seberg (£32.00, February 2007)
'This informative, beautifully illustrated book is a pleasure to read and also acts as a timely reminder that plants not only enhance our environment but are the basis of our future and the survival of humankind.'
Matthew Biggs, Gardens Illustrated, June 2007
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'Welcome to the dazzling diorama of 21st-century plant classification and evolution...there are 506 families and lots of new bedfellows...this scholarly, elegant and, at times, demanding book should definitely whet your appetite for further change.'
Tim Entwisle, Gardening Australia, July 2007
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'This is far more than just a new edition. The text has been reworked and updated to include the latest knowledge of plant evolution, revealed by DNA. The authors have taken many of these discoveries into account in redefining the families recognised.'
Christopher Whitehouse, The Garden, August 2007
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'This publication is an invaluable addition to any botanical library.'
Trevor J. Edwards, South African Journal of Botany, 75, 2009
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See also:
Cuttings (BGCI Quaterly Newsletter), Vol 4 (2) April 2007
Kieler Notizen zur Pflanzenkunde (in German)
Field Guide to the Rattans of Africa, by Terry Sunderland (£25.00, July 2007)
'…A most usable manual for the identification of the species of rattan that occur in Africa…of considerable use to both ethnobotanists and development agency workers. It is easy to use, abundantly illustrated and the keys for identification work well.'
Ghillean Prance, Plant Talk, December 2007
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World Checklist and Bibliography of Campanulaceae, by Thomas G Lammers (£110.00, July 2007)
'One can easily consider the checklist an encyclopedia of the Campanulaceae. The checklist includes every validly
published name at or below specific rank... names are easy to follow and find. A useful work on an important worldwide family.'
Barney Lipscomb, Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Vol 1 (2) 2007
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Zambian Plants: their vernacular names and uses, by Dennis G Fowler (£60.50, September 2007)
'... Of interest in anyone who is involved in research on Zambian plants and their uses... a repository of knowledge about local and traditional uses and plants currently used in Zambia.'
Michael Heinrich, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol 116 (2) 2008
Read the full review
'The first comprehensive list of Zambian vernacular plant names...this book will be of great value to a wide range of people'.
Gary I. Stafford, South African Journal of Botany, Vol 75, Issue 2, 2009
About Kew
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Kew news
Half term activities at Wakehurst
07 Feb 2012
Discover your own stories in nature, and create an 'eye-spy' mobile to use around the gardens and take home.
How plants conquered the land
06 Feb 2012
Researchers contemplate the first symbioses between plants and fungi.
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Displaying the letters of Augustine Henry
by: Virginia Mills, Library, Art and Archives blog 03 Feb 2012
The Directors' Correspondence team has just put some of the letters of botanist Augustine Henry on display in Kew's Library Reading Room. Find out why we chose him as our subject and how the display brings together material from many of Kew's behind-the-scenes collections.
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Explore Kew Gardens on Google Street View
Nature fans and gardening fanatics can find inspiration by navigating the paths of Kew Gardens’ 326 acre site. Take in the largest collection of plants in the world – 30,000 different species, including 14,000 trees – and iconic structures such as the Palm House and Pagoda.
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Welcome to Stephen Hopper's blog
by: Prof. Stephen Hopper, 04 Dec 2009
A successful 250th anniversary year for Kew.
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Don't miss our necklace orchid in flower this autumn
Kew's necklace orchids are showing off their sparkly curtains in the Princess of Wales conservatory at Kew Gardens.
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