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Title details for Lives of the Trees by Diana Wells - Available

Lives of the Trees

by Diana Wells
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Diana Wells, author of 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names now turns her attention to something bigger—our deep-rooted relationship with trees. As she investigates the names and meanings of trees, telling their legends and lore, she reminds us of just how innately bound we are to these protectors of our planet. Since the human race began, we have depended on them for food, shade, shelter and fuel, not to mention furniture, musical instruments, medicine utensils and more.
Wells has a remarkable ability to dig up the curious and the captivating: At one time, a worm found in a hazelnut prognosticated ill fortune. Rowan trees were planted in churchyards to prevent the dead from rising from their graves. Greek arrows were soaked in deadly yew, and Shakespeare's witches in Macbeth used "Gall of goat and slips of Yew" to make their lethal brew. One bristlecone pine, at about 4,700 years old, is thought to be the oldest living plant on earth. All this and more can be found in the beautifully illustrated pages (themselves born of birch bark!) of 100 Trees.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 19, 2010

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781565129696

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781565129696
      • File size: 6163 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Booklist

      November 15, 2009
      Because trees make so many more aspects of our lives possible and pleasurable than we realize, Wells felt compelled to reintroduce us to these miraculous sentries, companions, and providers, entities that make the earth both bountiful and beautiful. Long considered sacred by diverse cultures, trees are crucial in this time of accelerated climate change, thanks to their ability to counteract the deleterious impact of carbon emissions. Trees offer shade, shelter, and quiet; medicine and food; and building materials for everything from houses to books. Trees are wreathed with lore and continue to yield scientific discoveries, yet, Wells observes, We can even live on a street named for a particular tree and not be able to identify the tree itself. To rectify this loss of invaluable knowledge, Wells portrays 100 trees, beginning with acacia and ending with yew, in a tree album containing lovely drawings and pithy essays. Cinnamon, ginkgo, small and spiny frankincense, mahogany, Osage orange, sycamoreall are succinctly described and celebrated in this warmly informative, fun-to-browse book of colorful tree histories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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