Bizarre Botany

Book excerpt: Take a journey through a forest of fascinating facts and explore the wonders of the plant kingdom - from the tallest and smallest, to the smelliest and deadliest. This A to Z gift book reveals some of the most quirky and awe-inspiring stories about plants and will give you a whole new appreciation of all things floral. Did you know that the swamp cypress has breathing knees? Or that poison dart frogs raise their young in tank bromeliads high up in the rainforest canopy? That oak galls can be used as a source of ink, or that juniper wood once fuelled illicit whisky distilleries? Do you know what a vegetable sheep is, or which plants were used in the Egyptian art of embalming? We are surrounded by plants that live unusual and diverse lives, and we put them to some surprising uses. Bizarre Botany is packed with amazing facts that you'll want to share with everyone you know.