Book Review: The Plant Hunters

I can't recommend this book enough. I've read a few books about plant hunters, but this is probably the most accessible. I really liked that modern photographs of the locations were used in combination with paintings contemporary with the plant hunters. I also really liked the use of maps to give a visual of where the plant hunters explored.

The book is split into nine chapters, covering ten plant hunters. Sir Joseph Banks, Francis Masson, David Douglas, Sir Joseph Dalton, Robert Fortune, the Lobb brothers, Ernest Wilson, George forrest, and Frank Kingdon-Ward. The books I've read in the past tend not to pass the Victorian times, so it was refreshing that this book details the adventures of Frank Kingdon-Ward, who lived until 1958.

The book is so well written that it was a pleasure to spend time with it. On the back of the book there is a quotation from The Times: 'This is a book which will be enjoyed by everyone'. I wasn't sure if this was a fact or a command! It turns out that it's a fact! Each chapter closes with pages detailing some of the plants associated with the plant hunter, along with photographs of the plants and the meaning of their binomial name.

As, perhaps, you can tell - I really enjoyed this book. So much so that I've done some Five Fact Friday posts about the plant hunters in this book. However, they won't be nearly as good as this book. I'd definitely recommend reading it as it's interesting on many levels.