Author: Londa Schiebinger Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674043278 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 319
Book Description
Plants seldom figure in the grand narratives of war, peace, or even everyday life yet they are often at the center of high intrigue. In the eighteenth century, epic scientific voyages were sponsored by European imperial powers to explore the natural riches of the New World, and uncover the botanical secrets of its people. Bioprospectors brought back medicines, luxuries, and staples for their king and country. Risking their lives to discover exotic plants, these daredevil explorers joined with their sponsors to create a global culture of botany. But some secrets were unearthed only to be lost again. In this moving account of the abuses of indigenous Caribbean people and African slaves, Schiebinger describes how slave women brewed the "peacock flower" into an abortifacient, to ensure that they would bear no children into oppression. Yet, impeded by trade winds of prevailing opinion, knowledge of West Indian abortifacients never flowed into Europe. A rich history of discovery and loss, Plants and Empire explores the movement, triumph, and extinction of knowledge in the course of encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean populations.
Author: Walter S. Judd Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190276320 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 425
Book Description
Few settings in literature are as widely known or celebrated as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The natural landscape plays a major role in nearly all of Tolkien's major works, and readers have come to view the geography of this fictional universe as integral to understanding and enjoying Tolkien's works. And in laying out this continent, Tolkien paid special attention to its plant life; in total, over 160 plants are explicitly mentioned and described as a part of Middle-Earth. Nearly all of these plants are real species, and many of the fictional plants are based on scientifically grounded botanic principles. In Flora of Middle Earth: Plants of Tolkien's Legendarium, botanist Walter Judd gives a detailed species account of every plant found in Tolkien's universe, complete with the etymology of the plant's name, a discussion of its significance within Tolkien's work, a description of the plant's distribution and ecology, and an original hand-drawn illustration by artist Graham Judd in the style of a woodcut print. Among the over three-thousand vascular plants Tolkien would have seen in the British Isles, the authors show why Tolkien may have selected certain plants for inclusion in his universe over others, in terms of their botanic properties and traditional uses. The clear, comprehensive alphabetical listing of each species, along with the visual identification key of the plant drawings, adds to the reader's understanding and appreciation of the Tolkien canon.
Author: Joseph Dalton Hooker Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand ISBN: 338232444X Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 142
Book Description
Reprint of the original, first published in 1859. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.
Author: H. F. Glen Publisher: Jacana Media ISBN: 9781919931173 Category : Gardening Languages : en Pages : 448
Book Description
A listing of almost 9000 kinds of plants known to be cultivated in Southern Africa, or to have been tried here. The information is derived from a database containing details mainly of specimens archived in the National Herbarium, Pretoria.
Author: Doreen Court Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 9789058093233 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 318
Book Description
This practical guide describes the stage by stage development of a new method for predicting the penetration rate (PR) and the advance rate (AR) for tunnel boring machines based on an expanded version of the Q-value, Qtbm.The book also looks at logging methods and tunnel support design.