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Archive for the 'Trees' Category

Urban Arboreal – a modern glossary of city trees

Wednesday, July 18th, 2018
Urban Arboreal

Beautifully illustrated Urban Arboreal


Urban Arboreal – a modern glossary of city trees is a wonderful book. The book explores 70 trees which are illustrated by Kelly Louise Judd.
The contents page lists the trees by their Latin name, which might feel pretentious but is a good way of listing them. I’m fond of Latin names of the garden flowers I tend and love to try and learn more. It makes sense from a plant point of view too to display the related trees together which can highlight the differences as well as the similarities.

If you are a passionate lover of trees then this book is for you. It’s a delight to browse through with its wonderful illustrations and the words explore trees in an interesting way.

The importance of trees in our environment can not be stated enough, this book will help reinforce this. It explores trees that provide food and forages for birds and insects and touches on the human factor, how important it is for our lives to be enriched by greenery.  The book has a facing page illustrating the tree, with a page full of text about it and the location it is known in. A silhouette of the tree is included and the illustration usually shows a mature tree and leaves and fruits.

Recent stirrings in Sheffield about the destruction of street trees highlighted this importance of trees to people in the places where they live and this book explores the world through trees and how we impact on them, as well as exploring how they impact on our lives.

The snippets make each tree’s story a delight to read: Aquilaria sinenis in Hong Kong tells us that in China over one million five year old trees are being planted. The explanation of why it’s on the CITES vulnerable list is fascinating and that there are only 100 mature trees of this type left in Hong Kong.
The descriptions such as that of the Jaracanda may well leave you ready to set off on a journey to explore these trees in person.

Each illustration is a work of art in it’s own right, this book is one to have open when friends come round as they too can then admire the beautiful artwork within.

This book is a must have purchase for anyone who loves trees but will be appreciated by anyone with a general love of the environment. The carefully chosen trees explore the whole world and bring interesting information to us, making the book fascinating as both a guide to trees of the world and a travel inspiration.

This book is remarkable in several ways, the way the story of the trees uses history, trivia and myths to weave a glamorous back story for each tree, but also in that it’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to hang a page of a book on the wall! There are so many lovely drawings in this book that I might find a place to display it where I can enjoy it every day!

Available online and at all good bookshops from on September 6, 2018 Pre-order now at Amazon.co.uk