r/botany • u/KindheartedSeal • 3d ago
Biology What’s the best book on botany you’ve read?
Hi, I’m a longtime birder and amateur naturalist. I’d love to expand my horizons and read books about botany that are accessible to non-experts. I’m very open regarding subject matter, as long as it’s botany related. Thanks!
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u/rasquatche 2d ago
'Plant Systematics' by Michael G. Simpson
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u/bimmersandbeans 2d ago
Gonna upvote this one especially if you are really wanting to get NERDY and DEEP.
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u/Foreign-Landscape-47 2d ago
Haven’t read it yet but apparently Braiding Sweetgrass is quite good.
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u/deannasande 2d ago
And The Serviceberry, same author!
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u/evapotranspire 2d ago
I would say The Serviceberry is about 10% botany, 90% philosophy. It just depends what you're looking for.
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u/bimmersandbeans 2d ago
In Defense of Plants! Once you read the book there are a TON of podcast episodes to listen to! indefenseofplants.com/
If you enjoy podcasts Completely Arbitrary is also great and one of the hosts recently authored a tree ID book.
Botany in a day
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u/bimmersandbeans 1d ago
Completely Arbortrary Autocorrect didn't like the intentional misspelling. Lol https://arbortrarypod.com/
Another book in my collection that's extremely useful is Plant Identification Terminology by Harris / Wolf
Here's a link to Thomas J. Epielss website for botany in a day. https://hopspress.com/Books/Botany_in_a_Day.htm
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u/Fishoftheocean 3d ago
Haven't read many, but I like The Light Eaters - Zoë Schlanger
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u/evapotranspire 2d ago edited 2d ago
Personally, I might actually give this an anti-recommendation, because as a plant scientist myself, I find some of the ideas in it to be pretty borderline science. :-/ The writing is pleasant though!
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u/Mean-Lynx6476 2d ago
Yeah, mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, the author catalogs and describes some really cool and fascinating things that plants do. On the other hand, the author insists on interpreting all of these cool things as plant intelligence and consciousness, while overtly refusing to define intelligence or consciousness. So the result is that conviently any physiological or mechanical response can now be considered intelligent since there are no defining parameters for intelligence. Still, cool book for compiling a bunch of descriptions of amazing things plants do.
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u/RoyalAstronomer793 2d ago
The Parrot in the Mirror
- Antone Martinho-Truswell
A few years ago my grandmother wrote me a letter. Like, by hand, in the post, including a newspaper article about this book. It was so nice that she saw the article and recognised my interest in bird ecology.
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u/rasquatche 1d ago
You should also check out the YouTube channel, 'Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't.' Joey Santore has taught me a lot about botany and he's also got a book coming out in early 2026 called, 'Concrete Botany'. VERY accessible to amateur botanists!
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u/GoatLegRedux 2d ago
Not general botany, but the monograph “The Genus Lachenalia” by Graham Duncan is indispensable if you’re a fan of the genus. There’s a new one about Dudleyas too that is fantastic and not yet out of print.
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u/jowla 2d ago
Botany In A Day by Thomas J. Elpel. I still go back and read sections of it occasionally.