Living Plants

Their Place in The World.


Written by Eddy Fitzgerald.

About The Book

Strolling through a forest or a garden, we encounter a diversity of colours and scents. But plants are also the foundations of Earth’s ecosystems and provide humans and animals with food and medicines and much more. Yet they are mostly taken for granted, until recently that is. Now, a myriad of discoveries is taking place which is finally raising plants to their rightful place in nature’s hierarchy. And just as we are achieving this long sought-after goal, climate change is impacting on Planet Earth. How are plants responding to this new challenge? Scientific evidence shows that plants communicate in a variety of ways, including sound.

But perhaps the most fundamental question is: do plants possess intelligence? Plants are constantly processing information from the environment around them and making decisions every millisecond of every day, over spans of hundreds of years in the case of trees. How are all these multiple activities coordinated? These and many other fascinating questions are explored in Living Plants in the continuing quest for knowledge.

The Author

Eddy Fitzgerald was a crop specialist with an international company and worked in a number of countries in Europe and North America. Later he became Programme Leader in Agriculture at the South East Technological University in Waterford. As well as teaching, he carried out research in estuarine and agriculture-environment projects. Since retiring, Eddy has concentrated on writing and published Hugh O’Neill: Earl of Tyrone. His latest book, Living Plants and Their Place in the World, explores the amazing world of plants. Eddy lives with his wife Mary in Waterford, Ireland.

What People Are Saying

 
Blog

In his book Living Plants: Their Place in the World, Eddy Fitzgerald gives the reader a balanced view of the many ways that plants affect our lives. It is particularly relevant today when the issue of food security and the crops that underpin it has never been more pressing especially given the current global political turmoil that threatens our food supply. In addition, the author leaves us in no doubt of the negative impact of climate on future world food supply, which is exacerbated by unrelenting global population growth. The book has broad audience appeal, not only for those with a knowledge of plants, but also for the layman as it addresses a number of critical topics, including biodiversity and human nutrition. I highly recommend Living Plants to anyone interested in plants and how they influence our lives.

Professor John Ryan
Senior Scientist at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria, 1992-2012

Plant diversity within natural ecosystems is incredibly important to sustain genetic diversity within plant species, and institutions such as the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia play a pivotal role in this process. Living Plants: Their Place in the World gives readers an insight into the wonders but also the dangers facing plants due to climate change, deforestation and illegal poaching.

Matt Coulter, Senior Horticultural Curator, Nursery
Botanic Gardens & State Herbarium of South Australia

Beautifully written and meticulously researched, this book gives the reader a deeper understanding of plants and the role they play in supporting life on earth.

Susan Poizner
Author and Fruit Tree Care Educator, OrchardPeople.com

Eddy Fitzgerald describes the roots of our knowledge of botany in an intriguing and accessible way, from Aristotle to the discovery of DNA and beyond.

Zoë Devlin, Author
Wildflowers of Ireland