"And some brought flowers"

In seventy exquisite watercolours E.J. Revell has captured the beauty of plants found by early travellers in North America - from Ash to Wintergreen, Bittersweet to Wappatoo, the common Bedstraw and the uncommon Camass, the edible Fiddlehead and the ubiquitous Dandelion. Accompanying each painting are quotations from a variety of explorers and settlers, describing the plants and reflecting the practical, aesthetic, and botanic interests of newcomers in different parts of the country. The paintings are arranged alphabetically, in keeping with the tradition of old herbals, and botanical descriptions are provided. The quotations come from accounts of explorers and fur traders; of professional botanists travelling westward along arduous pioneer paths; and from the letters and journals of various settlers who responded, with astonishment and fascination and practical common sense, to the harshness and bounty they saw. The result is an intriguing mixture of native knowledge and frontier wisdom which provides a picture of life in a new land. -- Book Jacket.