Best of 2023: the year of the intriguing plant book
Leafy green inspiration must have been floating spore-like in the air in 2023. From art books to more whimsical first-person narrative natural history to the illustrative work of Donovan Bixley, it was definitely the year of the intriguing plant book!
Here’s our review wrap-up for a few that made big impressions.
Flora: Celebrating our Botanical World edited by Carlos Lehnebach, Claire Regnault, Rebecca Rice, Isaac Te Awa, and Rachel Yates. Reviewer Linda Herrick writes that this showcase of botanical art from Te Papa’s collection is ‘huge, sumptuous and gorgeous,’ itself a ‘magnificent specimen’. ‘Certain themes,’ she says ‘emerge strongly but the broad aim of the book … is to address a condition known as “plant blindness,” where “many of us struggle to name, describe or even notice the plant species around us’. Each section she notes ‘opens with essays by a range of guest writers plus three of the editors. It’s these essays which provide context to the images, each one an essential guide as you ramble along Flora’s winding paths.’
The Forgotten Forest by Robert Vennell details ‘an imaginary journey from our alpine areas to the wetlands, regaling the reader with mythical and medicinal material about the miniature world that is all around us but rarely noticed.’ Whimsical and told in a first person narrative, it is ‘full of fascinating facts about fungi, lichens, liverworts, mosses and slithery slime moulds,’ information such as the fact ‘Aotearoa is home to the tallest moss in the world, the delightfully named pāhau kākāpo or moustache of the kākāpo.’
Fungi of Aotearoa: a curious forager’s field guide by Liv Sisson. A luminous, blue mushroom graces the cover of this book which has been a constant on the weekly Aotearoa bestseller non-fiction list. Each fungus has a story to tell writes the author. Covering everything you didn’t know and everything you need to this is a practical, beautiful guide with photography by Paula Vigus. It has an emphasis on safety, practical aspects of foraging and identification and is packed with information from mushroom anatomy to the role fungi play in medicine and in rongoā Māori.
Rustle by Donovan Bixley. This one is for young children. Dionne Christian writes that author and illustrator Bixley ‘turns our attention toward native plants and shows they are just as splendid … as our birds’. ‘It’s a thoughtfully-produced (rounded corners, wipeable cover) hardback with an interactive element in the vibrant centrespread where readers can tot up the number of native plants they can name … perfectly pitched at young ones who like information to be straightforward, with a touch of humour that comes from … lively illustrations. Once again, you’ll learn lots and have fun doing so.’
