The book covers the lotus, lily, sunflower, opium poppy, rose, tulip, and orchid.
As well as telling us when these flowers made a big impact on the history of particular cultures, it also tells us when they didn't - even when we'd have expected them to. For instance, the author explains that in Incan and Mayan mythology and ritual, the sunflower plays no role whatsoever - yet we go on to read tha since Europeans took seed from their lands to Europe, the sunflower began to have a large role in culture and was very popular for a time.
The book also looks at the economic uses of the plants, a prime example being that of the oil from the sunflower seed - developed for a higher oil percentage in Russia and even higher when the American's got their hands on it.
Of course the opium poppy was used as an excuse for war; with the British Empire fighting China for the express purposes of continuing the trade of opium to the Chinese population.
This book has a great deal of information in it and, for me, required a lot of concentration. I felt like the information in each flower chapter could have been fleshed out and made into a book of its' own. Instead it read like a bullet point list of facts and sometimes this negatively impacted the flow. However, this is a really good book and there's lots to get out of it. Even if you don't have a specific interest in any of these flowers, you will gain a greater understanding of how flowers have helped humanity survive and flourish.
