ARBORETUM

A Royal Botanic Gardens Kew spectacular publication which measures 27.5 x 37.5cm for all budding botanists and tree lovers. It is a beautifully illustrated celebration of trees from around the world grouped by different biomes - temperate conifer forests with the Redwoods, cypresses and Douglas Fir; temperate broadleaf forests of North America, Asia, Europe with their autumn colours; Mediterranean forests including the cork oak and Australian mallee; tropical moist forests; tropical dry forests including the topical savannah, Baobab, tropical nuts and spices and fruits and finally gardens including ornamental trees like the Handkerchief tree. The term 'arboretum' translates as 'a place with trees' and this beautiful book allows you to walk every tree-filled place as you travel the globe discovering dense forest, frozen landscapes, tropical jungles and meticulous gardens. There is a huge double page world map explaining the seven biomes and beginning with explaining the basics of the trunk cross section, leaf, tree and tree forms of different shapes like pyramidal, spreading and weeping. Huge full page colour diagrams and illustrations get up close to the details in for example the unrolling fronds of the tree fern or the bark of the white birch, beautifully colourful and textured pinecones and needles, the giant and coast redwoods and the Chinese dawn redwood with flat, feathery needle-like leaves and a reddish-brown, fibrous bark like a sequoia. The shagbark hickory is a handsome, temperate deciduous tree whose wood makes excellent firewood for smoking meat and fish. With a short history for each, the book is so glamorous it can be opened on any page for sheer artistic enjoyment. One of the bestselling Welcome to the Museum collection and all about the incredible life of trees, one of the authors Tony Kirkham has for over 40 years looked after its collection for Kew of 14,000 trees. All in colour. 112pp.