Trees: From Root to Leaf – A Financial Times Book of the Year

"Trees are at the forefront of research into mitigating our current climate emergency, and their importance in shaping our future cannot be understated. With over 500 beautiful illustrations, stylish infographics, and authoritative text, this book presents all the fascinating facets of trees according to their life cycles: from seeds and form to fruit, flowers, and leaves. Advancing technology offers researchers a greater awareness of how trees live and grow, along with an increasing catalog of the many species and their habitats around the globe.

In a world facing the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, to name just one example, saving the wealth of tree species on our planet is crucial. This sentiment is searingly relevant, evidenced by the IUCN World Conservation Congress of September 2021, which coincides with the "State of the World's Trees" report, co-authored by this book's author, ecologist Paul Smith. With substantial and illuminating texts, Smith introduces each topic, followed by a series of visual spreads that showcase the adaptations, colors, shapes, and textures that give trees their inherent diversity and make them such a compelling subject in works of art, architecture, and storytelling.