Weird Plants by Chris Thorogood, Associate Professor of Biology, University of Oxford, published by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2026
Our green planet is home to remarkable plants. This book explores the diverse strategies that some plants use to survive. They may be vampires, sucking nutrients from their host; killers of animals for food; fraudsters, tricking pollinators to visit; jailers, trapping pollinators to work before releasing them; accomplices, working along with animals for mutual benefit; survivors, seizing every opportunity for reproduction; or hitchhikers, dispersing through an animal’s digestive system.
The author has visited many of these plants in their natural habitats and has illustrated them, in their native settings, through his meticulous oil paintings. On the opposite page of each extraordinary plant illustration is a description of what makes it so unique and the methods it employs for survival.
Who would have thought that a pitcher plant could rely on a tree shrew to use it as a toilet, or that rafflesia, which has the largest flower of all plants, is most closely related to euphorbias, which typically have tiny flowers? And those orchids that attract sex-crazed bees for pollination are almost beyond belief.
The result is a fascinating, colourful book with an expertly written text, which would appeal to plant lovers of all ages.