I went to the launch of this book in London about 10 days ago and spent an hour with a gang of lovely botanists. That evening I read lots of the book, and more on the train home the next morning. Outside my house I noticed the Fat Hen and Hedge Mustard growing in the road and the Wall Barley beside our house. The next day I found myself unable to resist looking at the plants growing in the streets of Edinburgh as we took a grandson to the playground (Opium Poppy, more Wall Barley, and Smooth Sow-thistle). The next day a visit to Musselburgh Lagoons produced Sweet Alison, Buck’s-horn Plantain, Trailing St John’s-wort, Pineappleweed and a couple of unidentifieds). I fear I may be hooked. This is going to play havoc with my birding!
It’s not all down to this excellent book but Trevor Dines writes so well, and Bloomsbury have produced this book to such high standards, that it is difficult to resist the pull of the pavements and walls, and the plants they have to offer. The book starts with a story of the author having a few minutes to spare before an appointment for a haircut and how he found the fifth record of a non-native plant for the UK and the first for Wales. That’s quite engaging (particularly if you are someone like me who tends to be early and therefore spends time hanging around for people who are late – I should look for plants!) and even I can botanise in snatches.
In these pages, we learn about the wide range of plants (including lichens and bryophytes) which are to be spotted in built-up areas: how they cope, how they travel long distances and about their future under a changing climate. It’s gentle instruction from someone who is a true expert.
One of the messages that I took away from this book was that just because a species might have arrived in the UK through deliberate importation its future, nonetheless, may well depend on its biology and how tough it is in making a living in cracks and crevices in built up areas. This made me think of non-native plants in a new way.
I was cheered by the fact that to identify that new record for Wales the author had to whip out his phone, take some photos and get help. That’s what I have to do with almost every plant so I will, from now, think of myself as being on a continuum with someone who can identify most native and garden plants he encounters. I’ll inch towards the author’s position over the next few years.
This book is superbly well illustrated with a range of photographs that illustrate biological points or simply show us a wide range of plants making a living outside pubs, railway stations or on roundabouts. It’s a great pleasure to browse, but an even greater one to read.
Those who have read Reflections might remember that I start my book with street plants, my favourite Herb Robert and the range of other species in front of the other houses in my street. This book will persuade me to go a bit further and regard every five spare minutes in a town as an opportunity to look for urban plants. This will be a strong candidate for this blog’s book of the year as it is a delight. The only fault I can find with it (though, remember, I’m no botanist) is that it wasn’t produced 10 years ago!
The cover? It’s another belter by Carry Akroyd and I’ve got to give it 10/10.
Urban Plants by Trevor Dines is published by Bloomsbury.
Buy this book direct from Blackwell’s – a proper bookshop (and I’ll get a little bit of money from them).
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