Can plants swim? How does a green plant get food? What would happen if bacteria stopped working? How do plants air-condition the world? Why are flowers so many different shapes, colors and odors? How do plants help bread dough to rise? What travelling equipment do seeds have? How do plants form partnerships?

The First Book of Plants answers these questions and many more. Here is a clear introduction to the plants that grow almost everywhere in the world around us, in all sizes and shapes—some so small that they can be seen only with a microscope, others towering high in the sky.

Plants grow not only in well-watered soil, but in oceans, lakes and swamps, in deserts, on rocks, on branches of trees, on old pieces of wood, even on old shoes, or on tip of arctic snow. Some strange plants eat insects, and others steal food from their neighbors.

The First Book of Plants tells the how's, why's and what's of them all—bacteria, algae, fungi, lichens, ferns, mosses, and the seed-producing plants.

Illustrated with Paul Wenck's striking drawings.

From the dust jacket