Stephen Blackmore – författare

The flora of China is astonishing in its diversity. With 32,500 species of vascular plants, over fifty per cent of which are endemic, it has more botanical variety than anywhere else in the world and provides unbroken connections to all its landscapes - from tropical to subtropical, temperate and boreal forests. This book tells the story of the plants of China: from the evolution of the flora through time to the survey of the bioclimatic zones, soundly based on chapters with information on climate, physical geography and soils. The history of botany and its study are also examined, with chapters dedicated to forestry, medicinal plants and ornamentals, with the changing flora, aliens, extinction and conservation also discussed. An essential read for years to come, The Plants of China shows that an understanding of the flora of China is crucial to interpreting plant evolution and fossil history elsewhere in the world.

Only a green world, rich in plants, can sustain us and the millions of other species with which we share this planet. But, in an era of global change, nature is on the retreat. Like the communities they form, many plant species are becoming rarer, threatened even to the point of extinction. The worldwide community of almost three thousand botanic gardens are holders of the most diverse living collections of plants and have the unique potential to conserve plant diversity. Conservation biology is a fast moving and often controversial field, and, as the contributions within these pages from experts in the field demonstrate, plant conservation is multifaceted, mirroring the complexity of the biodiversity it aims to protect, and striving not just to protect threatened plants but to preserve ecosystem services and secure the integrity of the biosphere.

Only a green world, rich in plants, can sustain us and the millions of other species with which we share this planet. But, in an era of global change, nature is on the retreat. Like the communities they form, many plant species are becoming rarer, threatened even to the point of extinction. The worldwide community of almost three thousand botanic gardens are holders of the most diverse living collections of plants and have the unique potential to conserve plant diversity. Conservation biology is a fast moving and often controversial field, and, as the contributions within these pages from experts in the field demonstrate, plant conservation is multifaceted, mirroring the complexity of the biodiversity it aims to protect, and striving not just to protect threatened plants but to preserve ecosystem services and secure the integrity of the biosphere.

In this frank, but highly readable book, Professor Stephen Blackmore, former RBGE Regius Keeper, strips away the mystique and complexity that often shrouds the subject of climate change. No longer is it a topic exclusively for scientists and politicians to debate.

Comprising about one hundred plates this atlas documents anddescribes the processes concerning the sexual reproductionin higher plants. It is dividedinto three parts:- Anther Development- Pistil Development- Progamic Phase and Fertilization.The scanning, transmission electron and light micrographsare all of immaculate quality and - for the viewer'sorientation - almost each plate is complemented by a schemeshowing a larger area of the plant indicating the site ofthe section.Together with instructive texts, the often striking imagesprovide a valuable introduction into plant reproductive cellstructures for researchers and advanced students ofgenetics, plantbreeding and cell biology.