Plants of the World is the first book to systematically explore every vascular plant family - more than four hundred and fifty of them - organized in a modern phylogenetic order. Detailed entries for each family include descriptions, distribution, evolutionary relationships, and fascinating information on economic uses of plants and etymology of their names. All entires are also copiously illustrated in full color with more than 2,500 stunning photographs. A collaboration among three celebrated botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plants of the World is authoritative, comprehensive, and beautiful. Covering everything from ferns to angiosperms, it will be an essential resource for practicing botanists, horticulturists, and nascent green thumbs alike.--COVER

• Evolution of land plants
• Plants and human culture
• Naming plants
• Classification and the angiosperm phylogeny group
• Fossil plants
• Families
• Etymology and common names
• Genera
• Phytogeography
• Economic botany
• Lycopods
• Ferns
• Gymnosperms
• The ANA grade families
• Magnoliids
• Monocots
• Eudicots