For something to fit in your suitcase when travelling to Scotland, consider “Scottish Wild Plants: Their History, Ecology and Conservation.” Authors Philip Lusby and Jenny Wright skillfully weave into some 40 plant profiles description, habitat, ecological niche, associated plants and animals, natural history, and even something of the history of Scottish botany. This is good reading straight through, yet still useful as a reference work, although you’ll want a pocket field guide, too — there are several good ones in any Scottish bookstore. This book is more for setting the mood. For example, you’ll learn that Primula scotica is one of the few endemic plants in Scotland and its survival is linked to rabbits, an introduced animal to Britain in Roman times. But the relationship isn’t what you’d guess. The Scottish primrose actually thrives best where rabbits are plentiful, as they eat the plants that shade this tiny, post-glacial relic.
Excerpted from the Winter 2008 Arboretum Bulletin.