100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names

February 1, 1997
The title of this book is somewhat misleading, as Wells (contributing editor of the gardening magazine Greenprints) does not focus strictly on the simple derivation of plant names. (Another recent book on plant names, Martha Barnette's A Garden of Words, Times Bks., 1992, provides much more etymological detail.) Wells instead describes the mythology and history behind 100 favorite garden plants, emphasizing the exploits of botanists and plant explorers who brought them out of their native habitats. Their exploits make for engrossing reading, though it is sobering to learn how many of them suffered from disease and assault, lost their hard-earned collections, or were killed outright just trying to bring back plants for our gardens. Not an essential purchase but definitely worth a place in most horticultural or botanical collections.--Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., Va.

November 1, 1996
From abelia to zinnia, here is a short history--and illustrations--of 100 common flowers. Take the poppy, for example; the botanical name "Papaver" is from the Latin, possibly going back to pap, a milky food that could have associations with the opium poppy's milky juice. The field or corn poppy, "Papaver rhoeas," takes its botanical name from the Greek "rhoeas," possibly from the root "rho," meaning red. Wells, who keeps a six-acre garden on a farm near Philadelphia, reminds us that corn poppies thrive in soil that has been freshly turned, because the seeds need light to germinate; and this is the sad reason they flourished in the battlefields of France during World War I--the ground had been churned up by guns and soldiers. This is a delightful book for browsing when it's too cold to be out in the garden. ((Reviewed November 1, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)