“What are the best Botany books of all time?” We looked at 16 sources and found 260 unique titles in an effort to answer that very question.

No matter what region or habitat you live in there is one thing you will almost always be able to find, plants. Plants best represent the always elegant quote from Dr. Ian Malcolm “Life, uh, finds a way” from Jurassic Park more than any other living thing on the planet. They come in all shapes and sizes, with different physiology , genetics, and structures. Botany, the scientific study of plants, and the books associated with it, help to show the importance of these wonderful being that are not only unique and numerous in their own right, but also keep all human and animal life alive as well.

We found 260 different books about botany from 16 different sources. The top 9 are listed below with images, summaries, and links. The additional 251 books, along with the sources can be found at the bottom of the page.

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The Best Books About Botany Of All Time

9.) A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America by Lee Peterson

Lists It Appears On:

• Botany Everyday
• Ready Nutrition

More than 370 edible wild plants, plus 37 poisonous look-alikes, are described here, with 400 drawings and 78 color photographs showing precisely how to recognize each species. Also included are habitat descriptions, lists of plants by season, and preparation instructions for 22 different food uses.

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8.) Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Thomas J. Elpel

Lists It Appears On:

• HCC Library
• Learn Plants Now

Botany in a Day is changing the way people learn about plants. A one-day tutorial introduces eight of the world’s most common plant families, applicable to more than 45,000 species of plants. Master these eight patterns and have the skills to recognize an astonishing number of plants on any continent. Add to your repertoire by keying out entirely unknown plants and learning additional family patterns.

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7.) Flora: An Artistic Voyage Through the World of Plants by Sandra Knapp

Lists It Appears On:

• Botany Everyday
• Botanical Art & Artists

Flora’ contains 20 essays on the history of key plant families, including cacti, daffodils, iris, magnolia, poppies, roses, tulips and waterlilies. It explains how plants have adopted remarkable behaviours for survival in a variety of harsh habitats and also tells the remarkable stories of the adventurous botanist explorers who braved disease, slave traders, wars, jungles and other dangers to collect plants now commonly grown in our own gardens. ‘Flora’ is graced with hundreds of stunning colour illustrations selectedfrom the vast collection of original botanical paintings held at the Natural History Museum, London.

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6.) Insects of Surinam by Maria Sibylla Merian

Lists It Appears On:

• Botanical Art & Artists
• Design Sponge

At a time when few women were educated or literate and rarely travelled German-born naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 1717) made history with her studies of insects in Surinam. Trained as a copperplate engraver and watercolorist, she documented the metamorphosis of butterflies, laying the foundation for modern entomology. What Merian observed when breeding native species of butterfly triggered her curiosity, and spurred her to further investigation; the development from ovum, via larva and chrysalis, to adult butterfly was not fully understood in the 17th century. And not every pupa developed into a butterfly, which puzzled Merian for a long time. On seeing a collection of butterflies from Dutch Guiana, modern Surinam, she decided to study tropical flora and fauna, to discover whether the moths and butterflies she saw in collections shared the same life cycle as those she had bred: the egg and caterpillar stage. In 1699 she sailed for South America with daughter Dorothea, the first time any woman had ventured on a journey of exploration on this scale. Having evaluated and categorized her specimens, in 1705 she published her major work Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, in Dutch and Latin. She made 60 copperplate engravings to illustrate the stages of insect development, arranged around the cultivated and wild plants she had encountered on her travels. With its detailed text and imagery, the Metamorphosis is the first work on the natural history of Surinam.

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5.) The Biology of Horticulture: An Introductory Textbook by John E. Preece and Paul E. Read

Lists It Appears On:

• HCC Library
• Learn 4 Good

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4.) Dapuri Drawings: Alexander Gibson & the Bombay Botanic Gardens by Henry J. Noltie

Lists It Appears On:

• Botanical Art & Artists
• Botanical Art & Artists

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3.) Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon

Lists It Appears On:

• Botany Everyday
• GardensIllustrated
• HCC Library

A bestseller since its debut in 1990, this indispensable and handy reference has now been expanded and updated to include an appendix on plant taxonomy and a comprehensive index. Two dozen new photos and illustrations make this new edition even richer with information. Its convenient paperback format makes it easy to carry and access, whether you are in or out of the garden. An essential overview of the science behind plants for beginning and advanced gardeners alike.

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2.) Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary by James G. Harris and Melinda Woolf Harris

Lists It Appears On:

• Botany Everyday
• HCC Library
• Learn Plants Now

“Plant identification employs an extensive and complex terminology. Professional botanists often need several years in the field to master this terminology, and it presents a daunting obstacle to the student of botany.
The meaning of most botanical terms, however, is immediately apparent when an illustration is available. That is the purpose of this volume. Plant Identification Terminology provides over nineteen hundred clear illustrations of terms used in plant identification keys and descriptions. It also includes definitions for more than twenty-seven hundred taxonomic terms.”

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1.) The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Lists It Appears On:

• Book Brows
• Flower School NY
• Learn Plants Now

Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

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#10-260 Best Botany and Flower Books
(Appear on 1 List Each)

Botany and Plant Book Sources