Botany for Gardeners

This is a great botany reference for gardeners. The book describes the basics of growth (cells, seeds, roots, and shoots), organization (inside stems, roots, and leaves), adaptations (for survival), functions (growth, water uptake, photosynthesis, respiration, nitrogen fixing, soil), and reproduction (flowers, pollination, propagation, genetics). The author is Brian Capon; the publisher is Timber Press (2005, third printing).

Some of my favorite sections:

• Adaptations – strategies for surviving poor soil, drought, short seasons, grazing
• Alkaloid-producing plants – plants with nitrogen-containing substances, used in medicine
• Meristems – bundles of cells that divide to produce stems, leaves, and roots
• Mycorrhizae – the beneficial soil fungi that forms symbiotic processes with roots

The book celebrates and acknowledges plants, and our reliance on them. It describes basic information in an accessible and understandable way, and inspires you to learn more. The book  scratches the surface for a botanist, but it is fascinating reading for a gardener who wants to know more.