Botanica: The Illustrated A-Z of Over 10,000 Garden Plants and How to Cultivate Them

Botanica is an attractive and comprehensive guide to more than 10,000 plants, which are representative of all the major plant groups. The book is comprised of three sections. The first section gives full information on gardening and growing plants and a map which details the hardiness zones for the country. A full explanation of the hardiness zones is given. Information on the major plant groups, such as annuals and perennials, bulbs, corms and tubers, and trees and shrubs is also included. The second section is made up of the A to Z of the plants, and this makes up most of the book. More than 10,000 plants are listed. The plants are organized alphabetically by genus (the botanical name). For ready reference, colored tabs in the margin show the letter of the alphabet. The genus entries contain information on the group as a whole, including geographical origin, description, cultivation, propagation, pests and diseases, and height and spread. These are followed by the species entries, which contain focussed information on particular species and on subspecies, varieties and cultivars. Each species entry finishes with a hardiness zone or range of zones. To make it easy to find the plant you are looking for, page headings on each spread indicate the first genus described on the left-hand page, and the last genus on the right-hand page. Photographs illustrate color, growth habit and other ornamental features of the plants. Each photograph is captioned with its botanical name. Synonyms and common names are also given. The third section is made up of useful and interesting reference material. It includes information on plant names; a detailed glossary; a table of plant families and related genera arranged in both systematic and alphabetical order; and a comprehensive index of synonyms and common names.