front cover of Wild Plants for a Sustainable Future
Wild Plants for a Sustainable Future
Edited by Tiziana Ulian, César Flores, Rafael Lira, Avhatakali Mamatsharaga, Kebadire K. Mogotsi, Patrick Muthoka, Samodimo Ngwako, Desterio O. Nyamongo, William Omondi, Abdoul K. Sanogo, Sidi Sanogo, and Efisio Mattana
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2018
Aimed at practitioners in governmental institutions and NGOs working in Africa and Latin America, this book has been written to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild multipurpose plant species in conservation, agriculture, and forestry projects, addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals “to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.”
The publication forms one of the main dissemination achievements of The MGU–Useful Plants Project, developed under Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership, to conserve and use sustainably wild plants important for rural communities in Botswana, Kenya, Mali, South Africa, and Mexico. Institutional partners led the project in each country, involving rural communities, local authorities, and schools. A scientific approach was applied throughout.
The core of this book presents detailed species profiles of 110 plants selected for their importance to communities and livelihoods. The profiles are structured in a clear and consistent format, providing information on taxonomy and nomenclature, plant descriptions, fruit and seed structures, distribution, habitat, uses, known hazards and safety, conservation status, seed conservation, propagation, and trading, along with key references from the literature.
 
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front cover of Wild Plants of Southern Spain
Wild Plants of Southern Spain
A Guide to the Native Plants of Andalucia
Tony Hall
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2017
Southern Spain, and in particular Andalucia, is hope to many common garden plants, including daffodils, lavenders, and shrubs. At the same time, it is one of the most florally diverse regions in the world. This book covers that spectrum, from the commonplace to the astonishing.

Drawing on more than fifteen years of fieldwork in the region, Tony Hall details over five hundred different species in this volume, presenting all essential botanical information alongside more than six hundred photographs and distribution maps.  No one interested in the plants of this region will be able to forego this book.
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front cover of Woody Plants of Western African Forests
Woody Plants of Western African Forests
A Guide to the Forest Trees, Shrubs and Lianes from Senegal to Ghana
William Hawthorne, and Carel Jongkin
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2006
Woody Plants of Western African Forests is an illustrated guide to the identification of 2200 trees, lianes and shrubs found in the forests of West Africa, from Senegal to Ghana. This is all the woody plants and more than 80% of the higher plants in the forests of this region, known to biogeographers as Upper Guinea. This represents 5% of all flowering plant genera in the world—1% of the species — so the book is relevant to anyone interested in tropical plants, especially but not only in the forests of tropical Africa.

Laid out as keys and with short descriptions of each species, it contains over 5,600 photographs, line drawings and maps. And, while many guides only offer hints to naming plants when they are not in flower, here the authors have based identification on leaves, bark, shoots, scent ,taste and other characters easily observed at most times.

Funded by the European Union, through its ECOSYN project (based at Wageningen University), which supports forest biodiversity and management in Upper Guinea, this magnificent, beautiful book is an indispensable reference for everyone committed to the conservation and sustainable development of Africa’s forest.
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front cover of World Checklist and Bibliography of Campanulaceae
World Checklist and Bibliography of Campanulaceae
Thomas G. Lammers
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2007
The bellflower Family Campanulaceae is found throughout the world, and includes a large number of species important in ornamental horticulture. For the past quarter century, Dr. Thomas Lammers has devoted his professional career to a better understanding of its relationships, classification, distribution, and evolution. In this volume, he provides a thorough accounting of the family, the first to be published since 1839. Eighty-four genera are recognized, encompassing 2319 species, 391 subspecies, and 27 named hybrids; another 8135 names are treated as synonyms. For each recognized species, subspecies, or hybrid, information is provided on its geographic distribution, life-form, and chromosome number. All this is fully documented by an encyclopaedic bibliography. As such, it is the ultimate resource from which to begin any inquiry into the family and its members.
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front cover of World Checklist of Cyperaceae
World Checklist of Cyperaceae
Rafael Govaerts and Simpon David
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2007
The sedge family, Cyperaceae, is the third largest family of monocotyledonous plants. They are of significant economic importance, especially among rural communities in the tropics, where sedges are intensively used. The World Checklist of Cyperaceae is a unique resource that lists all validly published names of sedges, providing the source of their publication and indication of which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. It will be a standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.
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front cover of World Checklist of Dioscoreales
World Checklist of Dioscoreales
Rafael Govaerts, Paul Wilkin, and Richard M. K. Saunders
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2000
Dioscoreales are a small but systematically and economically significant order of monocotyledons. The most diverse and important member is the yam genus, Dioscorea L., a source of dietary starch at macroeconomic to rural community levels. Other species of Dioscorea provided the chemical basis of corticosteroid drugs and oral contraceptives. Ally families comprise the unusual, largely achlorophyllous (heteromycotrophic) Burmanniaceae and the relatively unspecialised Nartheciaceae.

The World Checklist of Dioscoreales lists all validly published names of yams and their allies, providing the source of their publication and indication of which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms, making it a standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.
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front cover of World Checklist of Myrtaceae
World Checklist of Myrtaceae
Rafael Govaerts, Marcos Sobral, Peter Ashton, and Fred Barrie
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008
Myrtaceae is the ninth largest flowering plant family; it is economically important in the production of timber, gums, essential oils, fruits and spices, and contains many commonly cultivated ornamentals. The family is particularly rich in large genera, often found in some of the world's most threatened ecosystems, where their fruits comprise an important part of the diet of primates and birds. The similarity of Myrtaceae species is high, and its taxonomic and nomenclatural history is complex, resulting in notorious difficulties in basic identification, inventory compilation and floristic treatment.

The World Checklist of Myrtaceae is a much needed work that lists all validly published names in the family, providing the source of their publication and indicating which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. It will be respected as the standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.
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front cover of World Checklist of Palms
World Checklist of Palms
Rafaël Govaerts and John Dransfield
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2005
The palm family, considered to be second only to the grasses among monocotyledonous plants of economic importance, is of immense significance to man, especially among rural communities in the tropics, where wild palms are intensively utilised. The 'World Checklist of Palms' is the unique resource that lists all validly published names of palms, providing the source of their publication and indication of which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. Geographical distribution is also included for all accepted species.
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