Exploring the economics, science, and cultural significance of houseplants, a many-tendrilled history of our domestic, pot-bound companions. Our penchant for keeping houseplants is an ancient practice dating back to the Pharaohs.
House Plantsexplores the stories behind the plants we bring home and how they were transformed from wild plants into members of our households.
A billion-dollar global industry, house plants provide interaction with nature and contribute to our health, happiness, and well-being. They also support their own miniature ecosystems and are part of the home biome.
Featuring many superb illustrations,
House Plantsexplores both their botanical history and cultural impact, from song (Gracie Fields’s “Biggest Aspidistra in the World
”), literature (Orwell’s
Keep the Aspidistra Flying), and cinema (Audrey II in
Little Shop of Horrors) to fashion, technology, contemporary design, and painting.
Mike Maunderis a gardener and conservationist and executive director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, University of Cambridge.
"House Plantsexplores the economics, science, and cultural significance of houseplants. The author shares the stories behind the plants we bring home and how they were transformed from wild plants into members of our households. With many illustrations, the book covers both botanical history and cultural impact, from song, literature, and cinema to fashion, design, and painting."
"Maunder welcomes readers into the world of house plants, detailing early histories of the rise of house plant cultures and mania along with their attendant cultures of collecting. . . . [House Plants] stands out as a contribution to the growing plant humanities as a truly accessible, jargon-free, well-researched, and engaging text that demonstrates both humanities&rsqul7
![House Plants [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/3/7/4/2_5197974.jpg "House Plants [Hardcover]")