Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids and Rock Splitters: The Remarkable Survival Strategies of Plants

by Jesse Vernon Trail

A fascinating exploration of the world’s most unusual plants Whether it’s an arctic heather that can create subtropical conditions within its leaves or a dwarf mistletoe that can shoot its seeds up to 50 feet away, plants demonstrate remarkable strategies in coping with and surviving their environment. They are often exposed to bitter cold, relentless winds, intense heat, drought, fire, pollution, and many other adverse growing conditions. Yet they are still able to survive and often even thrive. Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids and Rock The Remarkable Survival Strategies of Plants showcases these exceptional plants with absorbing information and stunning photos that will inspire a new respect for nature’s innovation and resilience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2015

About the author

Jesse Vernon Trail is an author, instructor, and curriculum developer in environment, ecology, sustainability issues, horticulture, and the natural history of plants. He has had articles published in The Ecologist, Garden Making, Canadian Gardening, Plant and Garden, Fine Gardening, Gardenwise, Harrowsmith Country Life, Alive, and Outdoor Canada. Jesse lives in Vernon, B.C.

Reviews

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first this was very interesting and presented a lot of cool, unusual plants and survival strategies. But after a while, it started feeling just as if it's giving you a list of plants without a clear reason why, aside from them being, say, water plants. What's special about these water plants? How are they different? I couldn't answer that question.

But I can definitely say that some parts of this book were very informative and interesting. I googled many things, especially videos. I never knew these plants existed! A plant that HIDES if you touch it, so nobody would eat it? A plant that picks up its roots, makes a little bird cage from them and travels till it finds better pastures? An exploding cucumber? A bush or grass that has protected an entire house when the neighborhood was burning up because it just... doesn't burn, apparently? We really underestimate plants. The world is wild. It's all pretty impressive!!

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[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids & Rock Splitters: The Remarkable Survival Strategies of Plants by Jesse Vernon Trail in a GoodReads giveaway. I received a thick, smallish paperback of engaging design and excellent production quality with 285 pages of pictures and text page treatments.

As mankind learns more about technology and the world around us, we learn more about plants that have unique abilities to protect themselves, reproduce, and yes, even communicate. Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids and Rock Spitters; The Remarkable Survival Strategies of Plants is a book that looks through a wide assortment of plants with amazing capabilities to survive.

It's something like a documentary in book form; it's something like an educational coffee-table book. It's not categorized and indexed and formatted well enough to be a textbook or a reference guide, but it is too informed and comprehensive to be an easy read. It's best taken in small doses, when you're killing a few minutes waiting for something else and you're wanting to keep your mind fresh by reading and learning something new. Part National Geographic, part nature enthusiast tour, Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids and Rock Splitters is a well-written, high-overview, hand-selected tour of fascinating plants from all over North America.

Quiver Trees, Phantom Orchids and Rock Splitters is recommended as a good read for lovers of nature and hiking and those continuing to read for pursuit of information of the world around them.

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was provided to my by the GoodReads First Reads program.

I like that this book emphasizes the science of the strange and wonderful strategies employed by various plants. The photography is lovely; that drew me into the book even more than the text. That all of the photography was done by the author is an interesting conceit, and might have worked if the photography were better connected to the text. I had to work hard to figure out which, if any, photograph corresponded with the text on the same page. There were no references between the two. Too often a botanical structure was described very clearly, but without a photograph the description was almost useless. The text itself was poorly organized, almost a botanist's stream of consciousness while going though a collection of photographs.

I expected a lot more from this book. Biology nerd that I am, I did enjoy it, but I can't bring myself to recommend it.

[Bill Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines the various adaptations that plants have made to various environments. After an initial treatment of various plant structure, a number of chapters are arranged as a tour of numerous environments - arctic, alpine, desert, and others. The Mediterranean,being between a coast and a mountain range, is represented by the garigue or maquis in Europe, chaparral in California, matorral in Chile, fynbos in South Africa, and matorral or quangong in Australia.

The adaptations are illustrated by example plants that are described briefly. In many cases a photo is included. A great little book.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about the many different adaptations of the plant world, including many examples of species around the world with unusual or unique traits. The photography is lovely; the prose is painfully stiff; the material explores a very broad range of subjects, at a very shallow depth.

It's an excellent book for a middle-school or early high-schooler who has discovered an interest in botany, and could use further exposure to the wide range of possibilities within the plant kingdom.

[Koozebane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, read for the #paperbacksummer challenge.

There is a wealth of information here, along with some beautiful photography. On the other hand, the book is rather dry for cover-to-cover reading, and the lack of clear categories makes it difficult to dip into for specific references. I also wish that common plant names accompanied the scientific ones in the index.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference and reminder of the scientific organization of plants. There was only one or two plants that I didn't already know about. One was the banksia coccinia that grows in New South Wales, Australia. Another impressive one is the "wonder plant". The color photos are great.