Woodland Flowers

Colourful past, uncertain future

Keith Kirby

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Wildlife
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781472949073
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781472949080
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Botany
• Index: Biological Sciences

'A meticulously researched, important and beautiful volume that goes well beyond the scope of its title to describe the hitherto neglected subject of woodland flora and place it in a broad ecological and historical context.' - Stehan Buczacki

Observing the plants of the forest floor – the flowers, ferns, sedges and grasses – can be a vital way of understanding our relationship with British woodland. They tell us stories about its history and past management, and can be a visible sign of progress when we get conservation right. For centuries, woodland plants have also been part of our lives in practical ways as food and medicines, and they have influenced our culture through poetry, perfume and pub signs.

In this insightful and original account, Keith Kirby explores how woodland plants in Great Britain have come to be where they are, coped with living in the shade of their bigger relatives, and responded to threats in the form of storms, fires, floods, the attentions of grazing herbivores and the effects of the changing seasons. Along the way, the reader is introduced to the work of important botanists who have walked the woods in the past, collecting information on where plants occur and why. In-depth profiles of some of our most important and popular ground flora species provide extra detail and insight.

Beautifully illustrated, Woodland Flowers is a must for anyone who appreciates and wants to learn more about British woodland and its plants.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Map
• 1 Into the woods
• 2 The wandering botanist
• 3 Historical influences and woodland plant distributions
• 4 Commonness and rarity
• 5 The wood below the ground
• 6 Types of British woodland: the north and west
• 7 Types of British woodland: the south and east
• 8 For everything there is a season
• 9 Mind the gap: the woodcutter’s legacy
• 10 Unplanned forest disturbances
• 11 The effects of grazing animals
• 12 The nature of the wildwood
• 13 Woodland plants across the channels
• 14 Lines and links in the landscape
• 15 New woods and their flora
• 16 A changing atmosphere
• 17 Fun and games in the woods
• 18 Seven ages of conservation
• 19 Future-natural woodland: holding the line/going with the flow
• Appendices
• References
• Illustration credits
• Acknowledgements
• eCopyright