• Book information
• An Orchard Invisible: A natural history of seeds by Jonathan Silvertown
• Published by: University of Chicago Press
• Price: $25/£17.50

"A SEED hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible" goes the Welsh proverb that lends this fascinating book its title. Focusing on seeds, ecologist Jonathan Silvertown has written a witty and charming introduction to the evolutionary wiles of the plant kingdom. Who knew, for instance, that we enjoy beer thanks to yeast's devious scheme to poison fermenting barley seeds with alcohol, denying their nutrients to other microorganisms?

Cooking and eating become evolutionary subversions, too, in Silvertown's entertaining company, as humans exploit the extraordinary biochemical ingenuity of plants, and vice versa. If the apple is the tree's way of getting us to spread its seeds, we have our passion for ripe fruits to thank for the evolution of our three-colour vision, which allows us to see red berries hidden in a sea of green. Do read this eye-opening book.

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