The Rose's Kiss: A Natural History of Flowers by Peter Bernhardt

Flowers bring joy and beauty to our lives, from the small patch of daisies outside our window to the elaborate floral decorations on display at weddings, banquets, and funerals. As well as offering aesthetic benefits, they teach us much about how the world works--each blossom is a living factory that manufactures organs and compounds ranging from the flavonoids that make a rose red to the pollen that gives us hay fever.
   In The Rose's Kiss, botanist Peter Benhardt rekindles our sense of wonder at the plant life all around us. He presents a fascinating and wide-ranging look at the natural history of flowers--their forms and functions as well as their hidden interactions with the surrounding environment and the other living organisms upon which they depend for survival.
   The Rose's Kiss will hold wide appeal for nature lovers, garden enthusiasts, and anyone interested in learning more about the inner workings of the natural world. Delightfully interwoven with intriguing facts and stories from history, folklore, and mythology, The Rose's Kiss is a wonderful example of literary science writing at its best.

Genres: Nonfiction - Science - Nature - Botany