Andrew Spink reviewed Wayside and woodland blossoms by Edward Step
Review of 'Wayside and woodland blossoms' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
One the face of it, a charming Victorian pocket flora. Its aim is to describe common plants in non technical terms for ramblers. In that, it fails. Terms like "involucral scales" are definitely not going to be understood by people with no botanical background, also not in 1895.
The age doesn't make it easier. A surprisingly large number of names have changed, making it sometimes hard to know what a plant is. I'm still not sure what Hypnum triquetum iis supposed to be.
The book repeats the myth that 'bluebell' means a different plant in England and Scotland. I remember being told by no less that a professor of botany at Glasgow University (Jim Dixon) that this is nonsense and is just passed on from book to book, with no basis in reality. At least now I know that this is an old story.
But I should not be so …
One the face of it, a charming Victorian pocket flora. Its aim is to describe common plants in non technical terms for ramblers. In that, it fails. Terms like "involucral scales" are definitely not going to be understood by people with no botanical background, also not in 1895.
The age doesn't make it easier. A surprisingly large number of names have changed, making it sometimes hard to know what a plant is. I'm still not sure what Hypnum triquetum iis supposed to be.
The book repeats the myth that 'bluebell' means a different plant in England and Scotland. I remember being told by no less that a professor of botany at Glasgow University (Jim Dixon) that this is nonsense and is just passed on from book to book, with no basis in reality. At least now I know that this is an old story.
But I should not be so negative. The book is nicely written and full of interesting things. I knew that the potamo of Potamogeton was from the Greek for river, but not that 'geiton' means neighbourhood.