Offering a journey into the origins, diversity, beauty and importance of the plant kingdom, this book examines the distinguishing characteristics of plants, their migration around the world and the ways in which they have successfully adapted to a wide array of ecological niches and habitats, from tundra to tropical forest. The book also highlights what is being done to ensure the future of plants - on which almost all life on earth depends - in the wake of over-exploitation and pollution. After an introductory section dealing with general themes at a global level, the contributors explore plants and their environments in the various regions of the world. These include the towering sequoias of the Sierra Nevada in California, the panoply of exotic orchids of the Amazon rainforest, the carnivorous plants inhabiting the bogs of the British Isles, the bush food of the Kalahari, the flowering cherry trees of Japan, the Australian desert in bloom and the indomitable sandwort surviving at Himalayan altitudes of more than 20,000 feet. - from Amzon