This may not seem an obvious choice to include in this list and retailing at about £38 for a paperback it is not exactly cheap; but it does plug a very important gap. This book provides an accessible explanation of the often confusing technical terms used to describe plants. These are words used in botanical and horticultural books and other literature to describe plants and their characteristics. Their use causes considerable confusion and, sadly, puts off many; but are vital to help describe plants in an unambiguous way. The result is that many plant descriptions rely on words which make no sense to most people or very specific uses of words with much broader colloquial means. Frustrating as this is the accurate naming and description of plants would be impossible without them; as they allow the necessary degree of precision when trying to describe the difference between plants.

To achieve this, the book is divided into two sections; the first provides a list of words with a brief explanation of the meaning and cross references to the appropriate illustration in the second section. This second section justifies the large size of the book: being A4 in size. This is a selection of clear black and white line drawings illustrating the many terms. Most books attempting to describe this with illustrations rely on photographs, but such a technique could never achieve the clarity that these accomplish.

While of limited use to many people, and hence the publishers high price, anyone serious about understanding plants and there descriptions would do well to get hold of a copy. This is not the sort of book you are going to sit and read it is one you are going to find you are repeatedly pulling down of your shelves to refer to.