A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-Classical Era covers the period from 500 to 1400, ranging across northern and central Europe to the Mediterranean, and from the Byzantine and Arabic Empires to the Persian World, India, and China. This was an age of empires and fluctuating borders, presenting a changing mosaic of environments, populations, and cultural practices. Many of the ancient uses and meanings of plants were preserved, but these were overlaid with new developments in agriculture, landscapes, medicine, eating habits, and art. The six-volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Alain Touwaide is Scientific Director at the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, Washington, D.C., USA. A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-Classical Era is the second volume in the six-volume set, A Cultural History of Plants, also available online as part of Bloomsbury Cultural History, a fully-searchable digital library (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

A Cultural History of Plants in the Modern Era covers the period from 1920 to today - a time when population growth, industrialization, global trade, and consumerism have fundamentally reshaped our relationship with plants. Advances in agriculture, science, and technology have revolutionised the ways we feed ourselves, whilst urbanization and industrial processing have reduced our direct connection with living plants. At the same time, our understanding of both ecology and conservation have greatly increased and our appreciation of the meanings and aesthetics of plants continue to suffuse art and everyday culture. The modern era has witnessed a revolution in both the valuation and the destruction of the natural world - more than ever before, we understand that the vitality of our relationship with plants will shape our future. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Stephen Forbes is an independent scholar and writer, based in Australia. Volume 6 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

A Cultural History of Plants in the Early Modern Era covers the period from 1400 to 1650, a time of discovery and rediscovery, of experiment and innovation. Renaissance learning brought ancient knowledge to modern European consciousness whilst exploration placed all the continents in contact with one another. The dissemination of knowledge was further speeded by the spread of printing. New staples and spices, new botanical medicines, and new garden plants all catalysed agriculture, trade, and science. The great medical botanists of the period attempted no less than what Marlowe's Dr Faustus demanded - a book “wherein I might see all plants, herbs, and trees that grow upon the earth.” Human impact on plants and our botanical knowledge had irrevocably changed. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Andrew Dalby is an independent scholar and writer, based in France. Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics at the University of Delaware, USA. Volume 3 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity covers the period from 10,000 BCE to 500 CE. This period witnessed the transition from hunter-gatherer subsistence to the practice of agriculture in Mesopotamia and elsewhere, and culminated in the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the Han Dynasty in China, the rise of Byzantium, and the first flowering of Mayan civilization. Human uses for and understanding of plants drove cultural evolution and were inextricably bound to all aspects of cultural practice. The growth of botanical knowledge was fundamental to the development of agriculture, technology, medicine, and science, as well as to the birth of cities, the rise of religions and mythologies, and the creation of works of literature and art. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics at the University of Delaware, USA. Volume 1 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

A Cultural History of Plants in the Nineteenth Century covers the period from 1800 to 1920, a time of astonishing growth in industrialization, urbanization, migration, population growth, colonial possessions, and developments in scientific knowledge. As European modes of civilization and cultivation were exported worldwide, botanical study was revolutionized – through the work of Charles Darwin and many others – and the new science of biology was born, based on cells, nuclei and molecules. As Darwinism took hold, plants came to be seen as a way of thinking about the connectivity of nature and life itself. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. David Mabberley is Emeritus Fellow at Wadham College, University of Oxford, UK; Emeritus Professor at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands; and Adjunct Professor at Macquarie University, Australia. Volume 5 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries covers the period from 1650 to 1800,a time of global exploration and the discovery of new species of plants and their potential uses. Trade routes were established which brought Europeans into direct contact with the plants and people of Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Americas. Foreign and exotic plants become objects of cultivation, collection, and display, whilst the applications of plants became central not only to naturalists, landowners, and gardeners but also to philosophers, artists, merchants, scientists, and rulers. As the Enlightenment took hold, the natural world became something to be grasped through reasoned understanding. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Jennifer Milam is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Art History, University of Newcastle, Australia. Volume 4 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

This valuable reference will be useful for both scholars and general readers. It is both botanical and cultural, describing the role of plant in social life, regional customs, the arts, natural and covers all aspects of plant cultivation and migration and covers all aspects of plant cultivation and migration. The text includes an explanation of plant names and a list of general references on the history of useful plants.

The news that a flowering weed—mousear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)—can sense the particular chewing noise of its most common caterpillar predator and adjust its chemical defenses in response led to headlines announcing the discovery of the first “hearing” plant. As plants lack central nervous systems (and, indeed, ears), the mechanisms behind this “hearing” are unquestionably very different from those of our own acoustic sense, but the misleading headlines point to an overlooked truth: plants do in fact perceive environmental cues and respond rapidly to them by changing their chemical, morphological, and behavioral traits. In Plant Sensing and Communication, Richard Karban provides the first comprehensive overview of what is known about how plants perceive their environments, communicate those perceptions, and learn. Facing many of the same challenges as animals, plants have developed many similar capabilities: they sense light, chemicals, mechanical stimulation, temperature, electricity, and sound. Moreover, prior experiences have lasting impacts on sensitivity and response to cues; plants, in essence, have memory. Nor are their senses limited to the processes of an individual plant: plants eavesdrop on the cues and behaviors of neighbors and—for example, through flowers and fruits—exchange information with other types of organisms. Far from inanimate organisms limited by their stationary existence, plants, this book makes unquestionably clear, are in constant and lively discourse.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by the University of Otago, New Zealand. Farming Inside Invisible Worlds argues that the farm is a key player in the creation and stabilisation of political, economic and ecological power-particularly in colonised landscapes like New Zealand, America and Australia. This open access book reviews and rejects the way that farms are characterised in orthodox economics and agricultural science and then shows how re-centring the farm using the theoretical idea of political ontology can transform the way we understand the power of farming. Starting with the colonial history of farms in New Zealand, Hugh Campbell goes on to describe the rise of modernist farming and its often hidden political, racial and ecological effects. He concludes with an examination of alternative ways to farm in New Zealand, showing how the prior histories of colonisation and modernisation reveal important ways to farm differently in post-colonial worlds. Hugh Campbell's book has wide-ranging implications for understanding the role farms play in both our food systems and landscapes, and is an exciting new addition to food studies.

"This completely new edition of Terrestrial Vegetation of California clearly documents the extraordinary complexity and richness of the plant communities and of the state and the forces that shape them. This volume is a storehouse of information of value to anyone concerned with meeting the challenge of understanding, managing or conserving these unique plant communities under the growing threats of climate change, biological invasions and development."—Harold Mooney, Professor of Environmental Biology, Stanford University "The plants of California are under threat like never before. Traditional pressures of development and invasive species have been joined by a newly-recognized threat: human-caused climate change. It is essential that we thoroughly understand current plant community dynamics in order to have a hope of conserving them. This book represents an important, well-timed advance in knowledge of the vegetation of this diverse state and is an essential resource for professionals, students, and the general public alike."—Brent Mishler, Director of the University & Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley