Author(s): Anita Silvey
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 96
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Language: English
Date Published: 2012-04-10
Dimensions: 200.66 x 256.54 x 15.24mm
Publication City/Country: New York, United States
Edition:
Illustrations: Illustrations, unspecified

Driven by an all-consuming passion, the plant hunters traveled around the world, facing challenges at every turn: tropical illnesses, extreme terrain, and dangerous animals. They battled piranhas, tigers, and vampire bats. Even the plants themselves could be lethal! But these intrepid eighteenth- and nineteenth-century explorers were determined to find and collect new and unusual specimens, no matter what the cost. Then they tried to transport the plants--and themselves--home alive. Creating an important legacy in science, medicine, and agriculture, the plant hunters still inspire the scientific and environmental work of contemporary plant enthusiasts.

Working from primary sources--journals, letters, and notes from the field--Anita Silvey introduces us to these daring adventurers and scientists. She takes readers into the heart of their expeditions to then-uncharted places such as the Amazon basin, China, and India. As she brings a colorful cast of characters to life, she shows what motivated these Indiana Jones-type heroes. In The Plant Hunters, science, history, and adventure have been interwoven to tell a largely forgotten--yet fascinating--story.