Table of Contents

Volume 1: A Cultural History of Plants in Antiquity
Edited by Annette Giesecke, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Series Preface
List of Illustrations

Introduction: Plants and Culture in Antiquity, Annette Giesecke
1. Plants as Staple Foods, Jennifer Ramsay, Sarah Walshaw, and Karla Hansen-Speer
2. Plants as Luxury Foods: Sweet Herbs for Curry, Andrew Dalby
3. Trade & Exploration, Laurence M.V. Totelin
4. Plant Technology & Science, Patrick Hunt
5. Plants & Medicine, Alain Touwaide
6. Plants in Culture: Botanic Symbols in Daily Life and Literature, Annette Giesecke and Mechthild Siede
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments, Kaja Tally-Schumacher
8. The Representation of Plants, Allison Thomason, Joanna Day, and Annette Giesecke
Endnotes
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Volume 2: A Cultural History of Plants in the Post-Classical Era
Edited by Alain Touwaide, Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions, Washington, DC, USA
Series Preface
List of Figures

Introduction, Alain Touwaide
1. Plants as Staple Foods, Melitta Weiss Adamson
2. Plants as Luxury Foods, Alain Touwaide
3. Trade and Exploration, Federica Rotelli
4. Plant Technology and Science: Perception and use of plants in China, Huaiyu Chen
5. Plants and Medicine, Iolanda Ventura, Tony Hunt, Johannes Gottfried Mayer
6. Plants in Culture, Divya Kumar-Dumas
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments. Pre-modern Iranian and Eastern-Islamic Lands, Yves Porter
8. The Representations of Plants: Mediators of Body and Soul, Sarah Kyle
Endnotes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Volume 3: A Cultural History of Plants in the Early Modern Era
Edited by Andrew Dalby, independent scholar, France & Annette Giesecke, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Series Preface
List of Figures
Editors’ Note

Introduction: “I am sorry to say that I do not recognise them”, Andrew Dalby and Annette Giesecke
1. Plants as Staple Foods: Europe in the Post-Classical Era, Malcolm Thick
2. Plants as Luxury Foods: “And they germinated very well”, Andrew Dalby
3. Trade and Exploration: Plant Hunting 1450–1650, David Marsh
4. Plant Technology and Science: Frondi tenere e belle, Ingrid D. Rowland
5. Plants and Medicine, Florike Egmond
6. Plants in Culture, Luke Morgan and Elizabeth Hyde
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments, Jill Francis
8. The Representation of Plants: More than Just a Pretty Face?, Gillian Riley
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Volume 4: A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Edited by Jennifer Milam, University of Newcastle, Australia
Series Preface
List of Illustrations

Introduction: Plants and Culture during the Enlightenment, Jennifer Milam and Garritt Van Dyk
1. Plants as Staple Foods, Jane Levi
2. Plants as Luxury Foods, Garritt Van Dyk
3. Trade & Exploration, Sarah Easterby-Smith
4. Plant Technology & Science, Alexandra Cook
5. Plants & Medicine, Clare Griffin
6. Plants in Culture, Stephen Bending
7. Plants as Natural Ornament, Mark Laird
8. The Representation of Plants, Ekaterina Heath and Jennifer Milam
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors

Volume 5: A Cultural History of Plants in the Nineteenth Century
Edited by David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK
Series Preface
List of Figures

Introduction, David Mabberley
1. Plants as Staple Foods, Claudia Ciotir
2. Plants as Luxury Foods, Patrick Hunt
3. Trade and Exploration, Mark Nesbitt
4. Plant Technology and Science, Anne Osbourn
5. Plants and Medicine, Monique Simmonds
6. Plants in Culture, Roy Vickery
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments, Clemens Alexander Wimmer
8. The Representation of Plants, H. Walter Lack
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Volume 6: A Cultural History of Plants in the Modern Era
Edited by Stephen Forbes, Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Australia
Series Preface
List of Illustrations

Introduction: Plants and Culture, Stephen Forbes
1. Plants as Staple Foods: Feast and Famine in Global Food Systems, Derek Byerlee
2. Plants as Luxury Foods: Affordability in an Environmentally Uncertain Future, Frederica Bowcutt
3. Trade and Exploration: The Impact on Plant Diversity, Sara Oldfield
4. Plant Technology and Science: Advances in Crop Improvement, Peter Langridge and Geoff Fincher
5. Plants and Medicine: From Imperial Divergence to Global Convergence, Jean-Paul Gaudillière
6. Plants in Culture, Mark Tredinnick and Stephen Forbes
7. Plants as Natural Ornaments, Kate Cullity, Stephen Forbes, Jen Lynch & Mike Maunder
8. The Representation of Plants, Geoff Bil
Endnotes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Promotional Information

Examines 12,500 years of human-botanical interaction across the world.

About the Author

Annette Giesecke, PhD, is a specialist in the history, meaning, and representation of ancient gardens and designed landscapes at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

David Mabberley is a botanist and author based in Australia. He is Emeritus Fellow, Wadham College, University of Oxford and Adjunct Professor in Macquarie University and he has also taught in the USA.

Reviews

A Cultural History of Plants, edited by Annette Giesecke & David Mabberley, is a most impressive collection of plants-and-people interactions from the beginnings of agriculture to the present day. I’d encourage anybody interested in the connections and interconnections between plants and people to give it a go.
*Botany One*