Plants are truly remarkable: even with all our modern technological prowess they still feed, clothe and shelter us, help transport us and cure us. Helen and William Bynum are expert guides to the rich histories, significance and uses of over 80 key species from around the world, exploring our relationship with them, both utilitarian and aesthetic, and their myriad benefits and cultural resonances.

In portraits that combine vivid cultural and historical narrative with a firm scientific basis – starting with the crops that were fundamental to the development of cultures and civilizations, and those that enliven our diet, such as saffron and chilli peppers – the authors reveal plants that have helped to create our material world, as well as those that are used medicinally or are revered for symbolic reasons, including the tulip, the rose and the lotus. For anyone interested in the natural world and the extraordinary diversity of flora around us, this elegantly illustrated book, published in association with the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, will be an inspiration and a delight.