Kew Pocketbooks: Chinese Plants - Hardcover

by Alex Summers (Author)

Uncovers the wide variety of China's plants, from the everyday staples of rice and tea to the sacred significance of lotus and peony flowers.

For millennia, plants have played an important role in Chinese culture, with rich histories and symbolic weight. Even a humble houseplant like the lucky money plant, with round leaves resembling coins, is attached to multiple legends and utilized in Feng Shui to attract prosperity and abundance. This Kew Pocketbook showcases a selection of plants from the region, illustrated with forty stunning illustrations from the Kew archives. An introductory chapter by Kew expert Alex Summers provides an overview of this plant group, and extended captions accompany each painting.

The Library and Archives at Kew is one of the most extensive botanical libraries in the world, with the oldest item dating back to the 1370s. In this pocketbook series from Kew, each book presents forty botanical paintings from the collections, illustrating the variety within each group, as well as the diversity of the collection and artistic styles. The luxury finish on these books makes them a must-have gift item, printed on uncoated paper and with a cloth and foil finish.

Author Biography

Alex Summers is the curator of living collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.