Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for the Independent and the author of eight previous books, including the bestselling The Tulip. She contributes to a number of magazines, both in the US and the UK and regularly fronts programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4. She chairs the Gardens Panel of the National Trust and sits on the Parks and Gardens Panel of English Heritage. She lives in Dorset, England, where she spent thirty years restoring the garden of an old rectory. She has recently moved to a new house and started another garden. She is married and has three daughters.

'A history of the naming of plants. Part treasure hunt, part travel guide and occasional biography, this book doesn't disappoint' Sunday Times 'Her celebration of scholar-botanists is thrillingly told, guiding us from the ground-breaking work of the ancient philosopher Theofrastus to the seventeenth-century plantsman John Ray, who established botany as a scientific discipline' Sunday Telegraph 'Pavord's epic account of the botanical pioneers who named and classified plants before the over-esteemed Linnaeus is a fabulously interesting read' Independent '[A] beautifully written, gloriously illustrated history of how brilliant men from the days of Aristotle attempted to classify the world's plants. Here are enough upstagings and rivalries for 100 novels and endless fascinating facts' Jilly Cooper, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year

Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for the Independent and the author of eight previous books, including the bestselling The Tulip. She contributes to a number of magazines, both in the US and the UK and regularly fronts programmes for BBC Radio 3 and 4. She chairs the Gardens Panel of the National Trust and sits on the Parks and Gardens Panel of English Heritage. She lives in Dorset, England, where she spent thirty years restoring the garden of an old rectory. She has recently moved to a new house and started another garden. She is married and has three daughters.

'A history of the naming of plants. Part treasure hunt, part travel guide and occasional biography, this book doesn't disappoint' Sunday Times 'Her celebration of scholar-botanists is thrillingly told, guiding us from the ground-breaking work of the ancient philosopher Theofrastus to the seventeenth-century plantsman John Ray, who established botany as a scientific discipline' Sunday Telegraph 'Pavord's epic account of the botanical pioneers who named and classified plants before the over-esteemed Linnaeus is a fabulously interesting read' Independent '[A] beautifully written, gloriously illustrated history of how brilliant men from the days of Aristotle attempted to classify the world's plants. Here are enough upstagings and rivalries for 100 novels and endless fascinating facts' Jilly Cooper, Daily Telegraph Books of the Year