Germishuizen, Gerrit [Editor];
Fabian, Anita [Illustrator]
Book is in perfect condition, leather bound, appears as unused, no jacket
When you buy the book you will get a PDF and Word copy scanned in colour.
Foreword
Today it is fairly generally conceded that botanists and plant-lovers living in South Africa are indeed fortunate, for we have a truly rich and varied flora. This wealth of beauty has inspired at least three categories of our fellow countrymen, giving zest to their achievements. These are artists, plant-taxonomists and economic botanists. Among the last group, Field Marshall J.C. Smuts referred to our vegetation as 'the country's life blood, its living mantle'. He was one of the many keenly interested in the study of our vegetation, its preservation and the exploration of its uses for mankind. The taxonomist, concerned with identifying and naming the component parts, establishing their relationships to each other and fitting them into the world's classification, is intrigued by the variety and number of new elements still being encountered. South Africa has been fortunate in having enjoyed the gifts and talents of several artists, who have been inspired by the beauty of form and colour of our flora in its natural surroundings, and have been impelled to give vent to their feelings by painting as many as they came across.
In this way Anita Fabian, exploring the veld in company with her bird watching husband, has produced the beautiful paintings in this book. There are already volumes on the wild flowers of three of our provinces and the aloes and pelargoniums have been depicted for our edification. In the Transvaal we are fortunate in having the greatly prized work Wild Flowers of the Transvaal by Cythna Letty. Now to add to our bibliography comes this beautiful volume in a different format, including several additional families and many additional species. The text is a joy because it comes in tabloid form, giving just the necessary information such as the name, relationship and distribution of each species. A welcome addition, not generally found in such publications, is the derivation of the botanical names. The text is authentic, for it comes from a member of the staff of the Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria. There can be no doubt that this beautiful volume will be appreciated by a wide circle of readers and especially by those in the categories mentioned.