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Seeds

Time Capsules of Life

Rob Kesseler, Wolfgang Stuppy,
Preface by
HRH The Prince of Wales

July 2006

Hardback (264 pages)
ISBN 9781901092660

Size: 305 x 280 mm
Shipping Weight: 2.5 kg

£45.00

 

 

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Seeds.Time Capsules is a very impressive book, as a work of science as well as a work of art! It is very well written, beautifully illustrated and very weell produced. Congratulations to the authors and publishers. I recommend this book to all botanists, scietists and amateurs alike. The price is more than right! 
Frits Adema, Blumea, Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Geography

This marvelous book is a lively account of seeds and their significance illuminating their beauty and diversity through a series of stunning images. 
Professor Sir Peter Crane, Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

SEEDS are the most complex organs plants ever produce. A major keystone in the evolution of land plants, the first seeds appeared some 360 million years ago. Since then they have developed into highly sophisticated propagules that enable plants to dominate the Earth's surface and conquer almost every possible habitat from the Antarctic to the hottest deserts. The diversity of shapes and sizes encountered in seeds is nearly endless and ranges from the impressive Seychelles nut at twenty kilos to the dust-like seeds of the orchids. No matter how small, packed into every seed is the complete genetic information needed to give rise to a new plant, whether it is a tiny herb or a giant rainforest tree. True time capsules of life, seeds may travel thousands of miles and wait, if necessary, for hundreds of years before they germinate.

In this book, artist Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, present a natural history of seeds, illustrated with close-up photographs and scanning electron micrographs. The images afford an unprecedented view into a most astonishing microcosm, where the tiniest examples present us with the most exquisite beauty and sophistication.

This volume is an essential source book not only for those fascinated by the natural world, but also for artists and designers, and anyone interested in the development of biological structures. We are all familiar with seeds, but never has their structure been revealed so powerfully.

Published in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

About the Authors:
Wolfgang Stuppy is the seed morphologist for the Millennium Seed Bank Project at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. At the heart of this large international project, which collects and stores seeds and fruits from all over the world, Dr. Stuppy has found the ideal environment to feed his passion for research into the astonishing diversity of seeds and fruits.

Visual artist Rob Kesseler is a professor at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. He has a long career of working with plants as a source of inspiration for his work. In 2001 he was appointed NESTA Fellow at Kew, where he has since been working with microscopic plant material. His work has been shown in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Of related interest: Pollen: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers

Read the reviews:
Snoecks De Ark van Noah
The Times Small seeds bear strange fruit
Style at Home Style at Home Votes SEEDS as Top Coffee Table Book
Kew Scientist Stunning Seeds!
Época Magazine A origem da vida, Uma aula de design
InFocus Magazine The power of 2x
Wildlife The architecture of life
Discover How flowering plants beat out the competition on ancient earth
Nature Blowin' in the wind
Samara Magazine Seeds, the Capsules of Life
Blumea, Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Geography
Blumea Book Review
Gardenia
Semi, Mettiamoli in Banca
GEO Wunder der Fortbewegung
Gardenia Semi, Mettiamoli in Banca

Current Reviews: 0 Reviews

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