Archives: Book Reviews

When I first was a student volunteer at the Miller Library in the 1990s, I was struck by the several titles in the collection on the plants and flowers of the Bible.  This was a popular subject, especially in the mid to later 20^th century.

It is exciting that newer books are exploring the spiritual and cultural importance of plants for indigenous peoples, and in other sacred texts.  The newest example is “Plants of the Qur’ān: History & Culture” by Shahina A. Ghazanfar.  The book is richly illustrated by Sue Wickison, earning it an Award of Excellence for Botanical Illustration by the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries in 2024.

The text gives detailed accounts of the origins, history, and traditional uses of important plants to Muslims and other groups in western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions.  Some of these plants, like ginger (Zingiber officinale, Zanjābīl in Arabic), have spread widely through human migrations from its native habitat in southeast, maritime Asia.

This introduced plant made a very favorable impression in early Islam: “Zanjābīl is mentioned once in the Qur’ān with reference to the final destination for the righteous and those who have done good deeds on earth, that they will be blessed with shaded gardens with fruit and a drink mixed with ginger.”

One of the most fascinating entries is the “Toothbrush Tree” (Salvadora persica; Khamț).  This shrub or small, evergreen tree is found in Africa and western Asia.  The fruit is considered inedible by most cultures, but the roots and small branches can be used for “cleansing and strengthening teeth, freshening the breath and preventing cavities.”  Who needs toothpaste or mouthwash?

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Annie Proulx, the well-known fiction writer of books such as “The Shipping News” and short stories including “Brokeback Mountain”, has also published non-fiction books and booklets on various aspects of gardening.  Five of these are in the Miller Library collection.  The most recent by this one-time Washington state resident is “Fen, Bog & Swamp.”

This is not a book directly about gardening, but is concerned with the limited origins of peat, a long-time staple component of potting soils and an important carbon sink.  The wetlands that generate peat have been disappearing, primarily caused by human activities.  To understand this process, it is important to understand wetlands in their many forms.

Fens are deep wetlands that have as their source streams carrying minerals from higher elevations.  This supports various grasses and reeds.  A bog is shallower and relies on rain as its only source of replenishing water.  Sphagnum mosses are prominent in these low-nutrient environments.  Swamps are typically at the end of a succession that begins with fens and bogs.  They have the least depth of water and will support trees and shrubs.  Eventually, they will likely become a dry forest.

Proulx weaves human stories into her discussions, both historical and quite recent.  An example is the fate of the Grand Kankakee Marsh in northwest Indiana.  “This scenario has been repeated the world over: swathes of fen, bog or swamp are deemed too wet for agriculture and the cry goes up that for the public good it must be drained.  But the new lands then usually became the property of developers and big agriculturists or ranchers—public good neatly sidestepped.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Dr. Luschiim Arvid Charlie “is a respected elder and botanical expert of Cowichan Tribes, and a fluent speaker of his Hul’q’umi’num’ language.  His knowledge of plants is truly remarkable and comes from deep training and experience, starting in his earliest childhood years.”

This is how Nancy J. Turner introduces her co-author of “Luschiim’s Plants’, a book on the ethnobotany of the Coast Salish peoples of southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands in British Columbia.  The result of 15 years of collaboration, this book discusses native plants from seaweeds to trees.

One of the longest entries is for Western Red-Cedar (Thuja plicata) or Xpey’, one of the names it is known by in Hul’q’umi’num’.  It has many uses throughout the life of indigenous peoples, being used both for diapers and coffins.  Where the tree grows distinguishes the qualities of its wood.  The swamp cedar has a high resin content is very heavy.  Those from rocky bluffs in the mountains have very light wood.

In between, there are two more distinct forms.  Plank cedar is from trees with no lower branches and easy to split.  Canoe cedars have small branches closer to the base, so the grain is intertwined or twisted, preventing boats made from this wood from splitting if they hit a rock.

Various members of the rose family are important food sources.  An unusual example is the Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus; Tsulqama’).  Mostly known from the interior of British Columbia, an early European botanist found it plentiful on Vancouver Island in the 1840s.  But by the 1860s, it was reported as rare.  Luschiim speculates these were transplanted here from interior hunting grounds, but did not thrive.

Wild ginger (Asarum caudatum; Tth’uletth’ie’) is another example of gardening by these indigenous people.  While enjoyed for its flavorful stem, it also had important spiritual meaning.  To keep them thriving Luschiim explains, “whatever was somewhat rare then, you’d transplant them; certain important plants were moved, such as…wild ginger.”

This book was honored with an Award of Excellence in Field Guides in 2023 from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Elizabeth Blackwell published “A Curious Herbal” in parts between 1735 and 1737.  This magnificent work, that I have seen at other libraries, includes her illustrations of 500 plants that were selected for their pharmaceutical qualities.  The artist lived near the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and drew from live examples in that garden’s collections.  Blackwell also wrote a brief text for each plant describing the size, growing conditions, bloom time, medicinal uses, and the name in several other European languages.

Besides the merit of this work for its high quality, Blackwell has a compelling story of perseverance under extremes challenges.  However, that story has lacked documentation of many details, including such basic facts as the places and years of her birth and death.

The original is very rare, so I was eager for the publication in 2023 of “A Curious Herbal: Elizabeth Blackwell’s Pioneering Masterpiece of Botanical Art,” an excellent reproduction that is near to full-size.  Like in the original, these images do not follow a taxonomic system, but rather were done as the live specimens became available.  It will not surprise gardeners that the first plate done in early spring is of Taraxacum officinale, the dandelion.

What makes this book even more valuable is the introduction by editor Marta McDowell, and a biography of the artist by Janet Stiles Tyson.  In this latter chapter, we learned that recently found documents indicate Blackwell was born in London in 1699 and named Elizabeth Simpson.  She married Alexander Blackwell, a printer from Scotland in 1733, but he was bankrupt less than a year later.

Elizabeth was forced to support her family.  “Friends advised her to produce pictures that could be published by subscription.”  These efforts were successful, but her reckless husband continued to complicate her life.  He moved to Sweden for work in 1742, leaving Elizabeth pregnant with their last child.  He never returned and was later accused of treason and executed by the Swedish government.  Sadly, little is known about Elizabeth after his death, although some sources list her death year as 1758.

While this story may seem incomplete, Blackwell’s legacy lives on through her work.  This book captures that history and received an Award of Excellence in History from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries in 2024.

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

“A Herbal of Iraq” provides brief description of 50 plants used in that country’s ethnobotanical medicine.  Shahina A. Ghazanfar, editor of “Plants of the Qur’ān”, is co-editor along with Chris J. Thorogood and Rana Ibrahim.

Written in both English and Arabic, this book is based on the research and practices of Abdul Jaleel Ibrahim Al-Quragheely (1934-2009), an Iraqi herbalist who wrote extensively on the country’s flora and its uses.  “My work has sought to raise awareness of the work of Arabic scholars on medicinal herbs, inspired by prophetic medicine and Islamic medicine, and their importance to humankind.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Conrad Loddiges (1738-1826) was born in the Kingdom of Hannover, now part of northern Germany, but after training in Holland, he moved at age 19 to the village of Hackney, now part of northeast London.  He purchased a seed company, eventually turning this into Loddiges Nursery, one of the most prominent nurseries in Europe.

“Loddiges of Hackney” by David Solman is the history of that business.  It was known for an array of large greenhouses, including a palm house 40 feet high that incorporated innovations such as steam heating and rain-like irrigation – allowing the raising of tropical palms, orchids, ferns, and carnivorous plants.  A cooler, camellia house was created for this genus, allowing winter blooming.  Sadly, none of these greenhouses have been preserved.

Outside, the nursery maintained a large planting of trees and shrubs.  To this the term “arboretum” was first applied by a leading horticultural writer of the day.  However, unlike the Washington Park Arboretum, this was a commercial venture, and these plants were displayed to promote sales.  In the 1820s, Loddiges catalog had 2,664 hardy trees and shrubs, including roses and vines.

Loddiges Nursery was instrumental in providing live subjects for William Curtis and his Botanical Magazine.  When Conrad’s son George Loddiges (1784-1846) began publishing in 1817 a nursery catalog in a similar format, known as The Botanical Cabinet, he hastened to assure Curtis’s successor as editor that this was not a rivalry.  He wrote a conciliatory note observing “the boundless variety of the vegetable world is doubtless sufficient to afford subjects for us all.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

William Curtis (1746-1799) was born in Alton, England, about 50 miles southwest of central London.  His father was a Quaker tanner.  He was apprenticed to his grandfather, the local apothecary, at age 14, but he was more interested in the natural history learned from the groom at the inn next door.

Curtis moved to London, becoming by his mid-20s a partner in an apothecary practice, but he soon gave this up.  At first, he worked at the Chelsea Physic Garden as a “demonstrator of botany”.  Next, he established his own garden in London, open by subscription.  He gave lectures to members along with seeds and plants from the 6,000 species of plants he grew.

Curtis collected a library of 250 books and was an active writer, publishing papers over a range of natural history subjects.  This included an attempt to write the flora of all the plants native within a ten-mile radius of London as he was an early conservationist and concerned with the loss of plant habitats as the city grew.

The biography of Curtis is at the core of “A Celebration of Flowers.”  Author Ray Desmond tells how this effort to produce a London flora was never completed because of repeated delays in production and disinterest from potential buyers, who were more interested in exotic plants than those they regarded as local weeds.

Curtis was instead encouraged to begin a monthly magazine with illustrations of garden plants, both native and long-established.  The focus was on the quality of the hand-colored prints, including this Echinacea purpurea (labeled as Rudbeckia purpurea) from the first issue.  The text, often borrowed from others, was supportive but not extensive.

The new publication was well-received.  What is now known as “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” began with a circulation of 3,000 each month, but was increased to 5,000 because of demand.  Most amazing, it is still being published 237 years later!  Many of the 20^th and all of the 21^st century issues are available in the Miller Library.

A listing of the artists that contributed to “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” includes most of the best botanical illustrators in Britain.  All of them were men until the 1870s, but after that it has mostly been women.  The illustrations were almost always drawn from live plants and were hand-colored until 1948.

At the beginning, 30 people engaged in coloring of the plates printed from this original art.  Typically, women and young children were doing this very repetitive work.  Ray Desmond notes the “Magazine was hand-colored until 1948, a process in the later years in a factory setting with each worker coloring one part of one plate over and over again, before passing it on to the next worker.

Of this dreary process, Desmond continues, “With a relentless pressure of work it was no mean achievement that a creditable level of care and finish was maintained by most colourists.  Where there were lapses it should be remembered that the low wages paid did not encourage them to excel.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

“Philip Miller (1691-1771) was the most distinguished and influential British gardener of the eighteenth century.”  This high praise is by Hazel Le Rougetel, the author of “The Chelsea Gardener,” a biography of Miller.  She explains this admiration is “for his practical skill in horticulture and his wide botanical knowledge of cultivated plants.”

Miller’s father had a market gardening business near London and young Philip developing a liking for this occupation.  At his father’s encouragement and financing, he traveled widely throughout England, Holland, and Flanders, learning the science, the literature, and the business of kitchen and ornamental gardening.

The Chelsea Physic Garden was established in the late 1600s, but it languished through several directors before Miller was hired in the position in 1722, a post he held for 48 years.  During his tenure, Miller developed the Physic Garden into one of the most highly regarded botanic gardens in Europe.  It is still a must-see for any gardener visiting London.

Much of that reputation was built on Miller’s publications, the most important being “The Gardener’s Dictionary,” first published in 1731.  Based on methods established at the Physic Garden, it became an authoritative text in both Britain and America for the next one hundred years.  Miller published eight editions during his lifetime, and it was translated into Dutch, German, and French.

This was a large book and could only be afforded by the wealthy, or for academic libraries.  Miller recognized that the average gardener, who he came to know very well during his travels, could not afford it.  To remedy this need, he published abridgements that still retained the practice and the plant specific information.  The Miller Library has a facsimile of the 1771 abridgement.

Le Rougetel summarizes Miller’s accomplishments as a “coordinator of half a century’s discoveries and conclusions, became a counsellor for every cultivator of the day and stands as a prominent figure in the world’s history of gardening.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

John Evelyn (1620-1706) is best known as a diarist; his memoir dated from when he was student until his death over 65 years later.  It gives insights to tumultuous 17th century England, especially the civil war, during which he traveled abroad to avoid being involved.

Upon his return, Evelyn wrote extensively about forestry in Britain, in a part as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees for reforestation.  In “A Passion for Trees,” Maggie Campbell-Culver provides a biography of Evelyn and descriptions of 30 selected trees, liberally incorporating Evelyn’s observations of these species.

Gardening became a passion of Evelyn.  He had his own copy of John Parkinson’s book, which he studied frequently, adding his own notes.  He developed a 100-acre garden just south of London, planted with 247 fruit trees including cherries, apples, and pears.  He was also fond of gooseberries, currants, and roses.

He had hoped to complete an extensive and comprehensive book on gardening, but only small portions were published during his life.  Two of these can be found in “Directions for the Gardiner and other Horticultural Advice,” edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver.

“Kalendarium Hortense” is a monthly list of tasks in the orchard, the olitory (or kitchen garden), and in the parterre and flower garden.  Advice for January includes “In over-wet, or hard weather, cleanse, mend, sharpen and prepare garden tools.”  Each month highlights the fruits and flowers in their prime, and those “yet lasting” from previous months.

“Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets” systematically lists all the appropriate vegetables (Evelyn was a vegetarian) to include in a salad, starting with lettuce – “the principal foundation of the universal tribe of salads; which is to cool and refresh.”  It is important that all “your herby ingredients be exquisitely culled and cleansed of all worm-eaten, slimy, cankered, dry, spotted or any ways vitiated leaves.”  Good advice indeed!

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

John Evelyn (1620-1706) is best known as a diarist; his memoir dated from when he was student until his death over 65 years later.  It gives insights to tumultuous 17th century England, especially the civil war, during which he traveled abroad to avoid being involved.

Upon his return, Evelyn wrote extensively about forestry in Britain, in a part as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees for reforestation.  In “A Passion for Trees,” Maggie Campbell-Culver provides a biography of Evelyn and descriptions of 30 selected trees, liberally incorporating Evelyn’s observations of these species.

Gardening became a passion of Evelyn.  He developed a 100-acre garden just south of London, planted with 247 fruit trees including cherries, apples, and pears.  He was also fond of gooseberries, currants, and roses.

He had hoped to complete an extensive and comprehensive book on gardening, but only small portions were published during his life.  Two of these can be found in “Directions for the Gardiner and other Horticultural Advice,” edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver.

“Kalendarium Hortense” is a monthly list of tasks in the orchard, the olitory (or kitchen garden), and in the parterre and flower garden.  Advice for January includes “In over-wet, or hard weather, cleanse, mend, sharpen and prepare garden tools.”  Each month highlights the fruits and flowers in their prime, and those “yet lasting” from previous months.

“Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets” systematically lists all the appropriate vegetables (Evelyn was a vegetarian) to include in a salad, starting with lettuce – “the principal foundation of the universal tribe of salads; which is to cool and refresh.”  It is important that all “your herby ingredients be exquisitely culled and cleansed of all worm-eaten, slimy, cankered, dry, spotted or any ways vitiated leaves.”  Good advice indeed!

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin