Urban Plants: Trevor Dines' new book about urban botany

Urban Plants by Dr Trevor Dines is published by Bloomsbury today, 5 June, and there is a special offer for BSBI members.

Trevor has been a BSBI member since 1995; he co-authored our second plant distribution atlas, devised #NoMowMay, appears regularly on TV, radio and in print promoting wild plants, and is a BSBI trustee. When it comes to botany, Trevor really knows his stuff!

Urban Plants is an account of urban botany in Britain and Ireland: its ecology, history and cultural significance. Trevor focuses on the habitats where wild plants thrive in our towns: the walls, pavements, lawns, parks, playing fields, road verges and brownfield sites (waste ground). He talks us through the many native and non-native species which co-exist in urban  habitats and tells the stories of our urban flowers, ferns and conifers: how they arrived, how they survive, and how some of them have become so very successful. 

In Urban Plants, we learn how our villages, towns and cities have changed over time – from Roman Britain to reconstruction after World War II – and the resulting geographical variation that exists in our flora today, such as London-rocket at the Tower of London or the newly evolved York Groundsel, recently discovered in a railway station carpark. 

Trevor (on right) also looks to the future and the potential impacts of invasive species, herbicides and climate change, as well as the concept of urban rewilding.

For a taste of what's in the book, check out the sample page spread below, about urban orchids, and then why not watch this short video of Trevor's talk, Untangling the Urban Jungle, given at the British & Irish Botanical Conference last November.

The book is illustrated with around 350 colour photographs, maps and diagrams, as well as text boxes exploring key species and habitats. It retails at £40 and is available right now from all good booksellers such as Summerfield Books, but BSBI members can claim an exclusive 25% discount when ordering a copy, by visiting the password-protected members' area of our website. Email us at enquiries@bsbi.org if you're a BSBI member but you've forgotten your password. Not yet a member? Join us today and then you'll be able to claim that discount!