Synopses & Reviews
This handy identification guide to the plants that cause billions of dollars annually in crop loss and control measures include information on:
-The harm that weeds cause
-Benefits from weeds
-Major weed habitats
Accurate full-color illustrations and descriptive text identify the principal weeds and weed groups that invade lawns, gardens, fields. and roadsides. Range maps show distribution within the United States.
Golden Guides first appeared in 1949 and quickly established themselves as authorities on subjects from Natural History to Science. Relaunched in 2000, Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press feature modern, new covers as part of a multi-year, million-dollar program to revise, update, and expand the complete line of guides for a new generation of students.
This handy identification guide to the plants that cause billions of dollars annually in crop loss and control measures includes information on:
· The harm that weeds cause
· Benefits from weeds
· Major weed habitats
Accurate full-color illustrations and descriptive text identify the principal weeds and weed groups that invade lawns, gardens, fields, and roadsides. Range maps show distribution within the United States.
Using clear text and detailed illustrations, Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press present accurate information in a handy format for the beginner to the expert. These guides focus on what your students are really going to see. They are easy to use: detailed, full-color illustrations, text, and maps are all in one place. They are easy to understand: accurate, accessible information is simplified without being misrepresented. They are authoritative, containing up-to-date information written experts and checked by specialists. And they are portable: handy and lightweight, designed to fit in a pocket and be carried anywhere.
Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press have been updated and revised to revitalize the complete line of guides for a new generation of students.
Review
andldquo;Edwards takes the reader through the history of weeds and their history in art. . . . The book is copiously illustrated with paintings and prints. . . . The narrative creeps through husbandry, gardening, poetry, food, medicine, and apocalypse. . . . From the Bible to Shakespeare, weeds manifest failure, weakness, sexuality, romanticism, freedom, lack of freedom, equalityandmdash;you name it. . . . Weeds makes you think about our combat with plants, always one step ahead, without sentiment.andrdquo;andnbsp;
Synopsis
This handy identification guide to the plants that cause billions of dollars annually in crop loss and control measures include information on:
-The harm that weeds cause
-Benefits from weeds
-Major weed habitats
Accurate full-color illustrations and descriptive text identify the principal weeds and weed groups that invade lawns, gardens, fields. and roadsides. Range maps show distribution within the United States.
Synopsis
At first thought weeds seem to be nothing more than intruders in a well-manicured lawn. But in reality a weed is only a weed because it has been deemed so; they spring up where they are not wanted, so they are removed without a second thought. But the idea of a weed is constantly changing, with the definition shifting based on the context. In a field of corn the scarlet poppy is considered to be a weed, because it does not belong with the rest of the crops. But in history what we now consider to be weeds once had practical uses; from Neolithic times until the early sixteenth century, the weed called and#8220;fat henand#8221; was considered a vegetable, and its seeds were used to make flour. Yet despite the idea that weeds can be helpful to our ecology, they are still considered to be harmful, a nuisance in our gardens.
Weeds by Nina Edwards discusses the history of weeds, and how certain plants come to be regarded as weeds and not others. Sprinkled with personal anecdotes and full of useful information, Weeds is a helpful resource for understanding exactly what turns an ordinary plant into a weed in varying contexts.
Synopsis
We spray them, pluck them, and bury them under mulch; and we curse their resilience when they spring back into place. To most of us, weeds are a nuisance, not worth the dirt they are growing in. But the fact is weeds are a plant just like any other, and it is only we who designate them as a weed or not, as a plant we will dote over or one we will tear out of the earth with abandon. And as Nina Edwards shows in this history, that designation is constantly changing. Balancing popular history with botanical science, she tells the story of the lowly, but proud, weed.
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As Edwards shows, the idea of the weed is a slippery one, constantly changing under different needs, fashions, and contexts. In a tightly controlled field of corn, a scarlet poppy is a bright red intruder, but in other parts of the world it is an important cultural symbol, a potent and lucrative pharmaceutical source, or simply a beautiful, lakeside ornament. What we consider a pestandmdash;Aristolochia Rotunda, or andldquo;fat henandrdquo;andmdash;was, in Neolithic times, a staple crop, its seeds an important source of nutrition. Sprinkled with personal anecdotes and loads of useful information, Weeds sketches history after history of the fashions and attitudes that have shaped our gardens, showing us that it is just as important what we keep out of them as what we put in, and that just because we despise one species does not mean that there havenandrsquo;t been others whose very lives have depended on it.
About the Author
Golden Guides first appeared in 1949 and quickly established themselves as authorities on subjects from Natural History to Science. Relaunched in 2000,
Golden Guides from St. Martin's Press feature modern, new covers as part of a multi-year, million-dollar program to revise, update, and expand the complete line of guides for a new generation of students.
Table of Contents
Introduction
One: The Idea of Weeds
Two: The Background
Three: Image and Allegory
Four: Unnatural Selection: The War on Weeds
Five: Useful Weeds
Six: In Our Diet
Seven: A Wild and Weedy Garden
Afterword
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Timeline
Glossary
References
Further Reading
Associations and Websites
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index