The Plant Hunters: Two Hundred Years of Adventure and Discovery Around the World

This is the story of the men who discovered and brought back a wealth of exotic new plants. Journeying through remote and beautiful lands, often in great peril, they collected the plants that shaped western garden design for 200 years. The stories are illustrated with portraits, photographs and maps. The book traces the journeys of 10 of the most significant plant hunters, from the 18th century to the last of the professionals, Frank Kingdon-Ward. It travels with Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks to South America, New Zealand and Australia. It treks over 9000 miles across North America with David Douglas, who laid claim to 200 species. It also explores California, South America and South East Asia with the Lobb brothers, and climbs into the Himalaya with Joseph Hooker in search of spectacular rhododendrons. It follows Robert Fortune, as he smuggles tea plants out of China, the foundation of a vast cash crop vital to the development of the Empire. These and other stories vividly bring to life the pioneering work of plant hunters.