RARE PLANTS

A beautifully written and illustrated account of the threatened plant species that inhabit the British Isles Britain and Ireland are home to around 300 species of rare flowering plants and many more rare ferns mosses liverworts and freshwater algae These are species at the cutting edge of biodiversity fascinating often beautiful and in decline Yet as some teeter on the brink more rare species are still being discovered In Rare Plants prize winning author Peter Marren describes the allure of Britain and Ireland s vanishing wild flora from the simple joy of plant hunting to the wonder and sometimes weirdness of the plants themselves as well as their important place in our landscape and culture He also explores the condition of rarity in the context of our changing world and climate why do plants become rare what threats do they face and what opportunities do we have to protect them before it is too late The book concludes with an overview of different conservation techniques using test cases such as Lady s Slipper Orchid and Starved Wood sedge and asks at what point careful management becomes gardening and how far we are justified in intervening in the life of a wild species Illustrated with around 300 colour images by some of our best plant phot