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Brian Capon
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Botany for Gardeners Paperback – 21 May 2010

by BRIAN CAPON (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 958 ratings
Edition: 3rd
See all formats and editions
A bestseller since its debut in 1990, this indispensable and handy reference has now been expanded and updated to include an appendix on plant taxonomy and a comprehensive index. Two dozen new photos and illustrations make this new edition even richer with information. Its convenient paperback format makes it easy to carry and access, whether you are in or out of the garden. An essential overview of the science behind plants for beginning and advanced gardeners alike. AUTHOR: Brian Capon received a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Chicago. For thirty years he was a professor of botany at California State University, Los Angeles. 172 colour photographs, 56 illustrations
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  1. ISBN-10
    160469095X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1604690958
  3. Edition
    3rd
  4. Publisher
    Timber Press
  5. Publication date
    21 May 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    15.4 x 1.59 x 23.02 cm
  8. Print length
    288 pages
  9. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Brian Capon, a native of Cheshire, England, was educated in England, Canada, and the United States, receiving a Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Chicago. For thirty years he was Professor of Botany at California State University, Los Angeles, where he taught courses ranging from undergraduate general botany to advanced subjects for graduate students. He retired in 1991 as Professor Emeritus. His other book, Plant Survival: Adapting to a Hostile World, was published by Timber Press in 1994, and he occasionally writes on various topics. He is an accomplished landscape and still life painter, enjoys photography, and has traveled extensively throughout the world. Gardening, cooking, and attending plays and opera are among his many pleasures.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Timber Press; 3rd edition (21 May 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 160469095X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1604690958
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.4 x 1.59 x 23.02 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 958 ratings

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Brian Capon

Brian Capon

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4.7 out of 5 stars
958 global ratings

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Top reviews from Australia

  • Tim Barrass
    5.0 out of 5 stars Understand more while your plants try to survive your mishandling...
    Reviewed in Australia on 12 August 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Hugely useful for a haphazard gardener who studied botany last in 3rd class at primary school. It gives you the ability to make decisions based on an increased understanding of how plants work, instead of just trying to follow instructions or folklore.
    Helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Srini
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in India on 3 May 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This book provides a clear overview about plants and I found it useful. Recommend anyone serious about farming as this book tells about why a plant needs to be treated at a particular way.
    Report
  • Brian Rose
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very thorough and well written.
    Reviewed in the United States on 22 May 2012
    Verified Purchase
    To begin, I should mention I have a B.S. in Biology, and also have a natural curiosity about the workings of the natural world (meaning I not only have gotten the education, but care enough to have absorbed the knowledge I was privy to). Simply put, the information provided in this book is in-depth enough to give you a fundamental understanding of how plants work on the cellular level. For gardeners this is extremely useful. Instead of knowing anecdotally that cutting off the apical meristem promotes lateral shoot growth you'll know the chemical mechanism behind it. You can then take that fundamental knowledge and apply it. For example, the same chemical messenger thats responsible for the growth response just mentioned also regulates root growth. In fact, the root growth hormones you feed cutting is an artificial replica of the growth hormone (auxin) that is responsible for shoot growth. You can then get even more in-depth as you investigate how auxin navigates its way through the plant by means of xylem and phloem (just phloem for this particular molecule).

    The point is that this book is not only practically useful, but, for me, exciting because you learn the highly complex biological processes that are going on under the surface (so to speak) for every seemingly stoic plant outside your window.

    Side note: the book also has a large number of very high quality pictures that make understanding and remembering the info quite easy.

    I highly recommend this book to any gardener
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  • N. Dodd
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent purchase
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I read this book from cover to cover not long after it arrived. I found it interesting, well written and very informative. For someone with no formal botany background it dealt very well with the basics of how plants grow and (admirably) also with basic genetics. Particularly astounding were the photographs of cell division, which made the diagrams themselves more believable (not that I wouldn't have believed them without the photos, but it was just very interesting to see the photographs, if you will, faithfully reproduce the essence of the diagrams). I fully recommended this book to anyone who, like me, is interested in acquiring knowledge of botany and doesn't know where to start. The only very slightly irritating thing was the North American slant, such that plants were rarely (if ever) our own...but that's really a very small quibble. Highly recommended!
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  • Brent H.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book on Botany for Home Gardeners
    Reviewed in Canada on 17 January 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Well written book with lots of illustrations. Easy to understand yet detailed enough for anyone wishing to learn how plants work and why they work.
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  • Calum
    5.0 out of 5 stars Botany for Gardeners
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 February 2012
    Verified Purchase
    While perfection is a word I seldom use, I've still decided to give this book a maximum rating of five stars because in comparison with others of its kind it is far superior. If it's the kind of thing you want, then this book is the best you'll find.
    With a budding interest in plants (pardon the pun), one is often caught in the gulf between plant encyclopaedias, gardening books and university textbooks - with little or no general botany books in between. There seems to be nothing out there explaining how plants work, how they do what they do or how they've come to be what they are without first requiring a degree in biology prior to reading. However, this book does it!
    I found the title misleading. It seems to suggest it is yet another horticultural gardening book discussing matters of pruning and depths of which to plant bulbs, but actually it's a far more scientific yet approachable book than that.
    Capon has managed to write the only book I am as of yet to find that successfully communicates the general basis of botany to anybody who has the desire to care.
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