The Silk Road has enchanted travellers and adventurers for centuries. No other route has such a call on the imagination. Yet perhaps less known is that the 5000 miles linking Europe to Asia is also the most spectacular floral region on earth. In Flora of the Silk Road Chris and Basak Gardner offer a unique pictorial celebration of the plants and scenery to be found along this fabled route. In more than 600 extraordinary colour photographs, the authors take the reader from the rugged Taurus mountains and the deserts of Syria to the ruins of Persepolis and the blue-domed mosques of Samarkand, across the vast steppe once trodden by Genghis Khan to the spectacular mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and China.
More than five hundred of the finest wild flowers are depicted together with the beautiful landscapes in which these botanical paradises are found. With an accompanying text giving descriptions of the species, plant families and their distribution, as well as information on photographing the plants, this unique book will amaze and delight all those with an interest in the spectacular and legendary landscapes that form the Silk Road.
Chris and Baṣak Gardner are professional botanists and naturalists with extensive experience in identifying and photographing flowers. They have lead specialist botanical and wildlife tours worldwide for many years, particularly the regions of the Silk Road. Chris is also an experienced garden designer and co-author of the successful book, The Plant Hunters (1998).