Atlas of Poetic Botany

<b>Botanical encounters in the rainforest: trees that walk a leaf as big as an awning a plant that dances.</b><p>This <i>Atlas</i> invites the reader to tour the farthest reaches of the rainforest in search of exotic&#151;poetic&#151;plant life. Guided in these botanical encounters by Francis Hall&#233; who has spent forty years in pursuit of the strange and beautiful plant specimens of the rainforest the reader discovers a plant with just one solitary monumental leaf; an invasive hyacinth; a tree that walks; a parasitic laurel; and a dancing vine. Further explorations reveal the <i>Rafflesia arnoldii</i> the biggest flower in the world with a crown of stamens and pistils the color of rotten meat that exude the stench of garbage in the summer sun; underground trees with leaves that form a carpet on the ground above them; and the biggest tree in Africa which can reach seventy meters (more tha 200 feet) in height with a four-meter (about 13 feet) diameter. Hall&#233;'s drawings many in color provide a witty accompaniment. </p><p>Like any good tour guide Hall&#233; tells stories to illustrate his facts. Readers learn about among other things Queen Victoria's rubber tree; legends of the <i>moabi </i>tree (for example that powder from the bark confers invisibility); a flower that absorbs energy from a tree; plants that imitate other plants; a tree that rains; and a fern that clones itself. </p><p>Hall&#233;'s drawings represent an investment in time that returns a dividend of wonder more satisfying than the ephemeral thrill afforded by the photograph. The <i>Atlas of Poetic Botany</i> allows us to be amazed by forms of life that seem as strange as visitors from another planet.</p>