Looking for the best botany books? I’ve got you covered.
The list below contains exquisitely written books about botany that explore various aspects of our natural world.
Top 5 Botany Books
1. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer shows how other life forms—salamanders, sweetgrass, asters and goldenrod—offer us lessons and gifts.
Kimmerer argues that, to awaken our ecological consciousness, we must acknowledge and celebrate our mutual relationship with other living beings.
What’s in it for you: a botany book that will teach you to appreciate the generosity of the earth and give your own gifts in return
2. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
In the 1600s, a Dutchman bought a single tulip bulb at the same price as a townhouse in Amsterdam.
In this botany book, Michael Pollan explores a puzzling question: how can men desire some flowers so much that they end up in financial ruin?
Pollan asserts that the answer lies within the mutual relationship between plants and people.
What’s in it for you: an absorbing journey that will revolutionize how you think about your place in nature
3. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben explains life, death, and regeneration in forests.
Wohlleben draws on new discoveries to explain the science behind the secret life of trees.
What’s in it for you: a groundbreaking botany book about trees and their communication abilities
4. Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart
In Wicked Plants, Amy Stewart discusses the earth’s most vicious creations.
The book is an encyclopedia of plants that offend, intoxicate, maim, and kill.
What’s in it for you: a collection of spine-chilling botany that will educate, entertain, and scare even fearless nature lovers
5. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Hope Jahren is a renowned scientist who has three laboratories for studying flowers, seeds, trees, and soil.
Lab Girl is both a treatise on plants and a memoir about Hope’s remarkable journeys in science; it’s a book about love and work and the seemingly insurmountable odds that can be overcome when those two things collide.
This botany book will open your eyes to the magnificent, delicate mechanisms within every blade of grass, leaf, and flower petal.
What’s in it for you: a magnificently fresh look at plants that will change how you see nature
Other Best Botany Books
6. The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson
In The Triumph of Seeds, award-winning writer Thor Hanson delves deep into the lives of seeds—he discusses not how things grow from seeds, but the seeds themselves.
What’s in it for you: a thrilling scientific adventure about seeds
7. Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons
Stalking the Wild Asparagus is a book about gathering wild natural food and environmental preservation—about turning ordinary vegetables and fruits into delicious meals.
What’s in it for you:
- A groundbreaking botany book about living off the land
- Recipes for bread, muffins, cakes, vegetable and casserole dishes, and 20 various pies
8. Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel
Botany in a Day will teach you a faster, easier way to identify plants using similar characteristics.
The book introduces the most common eight plant families—applicable to over 45,000 plant species.
What’s in it for you: an excellent botany book for connecting more deeply with nature and discovering amazing plants
9. The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart
In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart discusses the flowers, fruits, herbs, and trees that have been transformed into alcohol throughout history.
What’s in it for you:
- An essential guide to botany and booze
- More than 50 drink recipes and tips for gardeners
10. The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
In The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean follows an eccentric man named John Laroche who is determined to clone a flower facing extinction.
Laroche takes Orlean on a memorable journey through America’s peculiar flower-selling world, finding allies on the way who help him and forces of justice who try to stop him.
What’s in it for you: a fascinating tale about obsession
11. What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz
In What a Plant Knows, Daniel Chamovitz explores how plants experience the world around them.
Chamovitz delves deep into plants’ inner lives, finding similarities with human senses that show that we have more in common with oak trees and sunflowers than we think.
What’s in it for you: a rare inside look into how plants make sense of their surroundings
12. The Big, Bad Book of Botany by Michael Largo
The Big, Bad Book of Botany will take you on a historical and agricultural journey through the evolution of hundreds of plants, disclosing shocking information along the way.
The book will introduce you to toxic teas, superfoods, and mushrooms. You’ll discover valuable plants that have started wars, tricky plants that have found devious ways to survive over the centuries, and deadly plants that can kill with a single taste.
What’s in it for you:
- An intriguing botany book that will change how we look at nature
- More than 150 photos and illustrations
13. Fifty Plants That Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws
This botany book discusses plants that have impacted human civilization the most.
It includes plant descriptions, botanical names, native ranges, and primary functions—medicinal, commercial, practical, or edible.
What’s in it for you:
- Fascinating stories about civilization-changing plants
- Elegant botanical photos, paintings, and drawings
14. Weeds by Richard Mabey
In Weeds, Richard Mabey explores how weeds became villains of nature; he shows how these plants can destroy ecosystems yet restore ruined cities and war zones.
More important, in defense of the plants we love to condemn, Richard argues that our reckless treatment of the earth has caused plants to become weeds.
What’s in it for you: the true story of the plants we hate
Further Reading: STEM series