Alien Plants

Auteur

Clive Anthony Stace BSc, PhD, DSc graduated from the University of London in 1959 and gained his doctorate at the Natural History Museum London in 1963. For the next 41 years he carried out research and teaching in the Universities of Manchester and Leicester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Plant Taxonomy. He has been a keen field botanist for over 60 years, and field work was an important part of both his research and teaching programmes. He was President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles from 1987 to 1989. He has produced about 200 scientific papers and books, including the New Flora of the British Isles (1991). He was elected Honorary Fellow of the Linnean Society in 2004. Michael John Crawley, FRS is an ecologist and Professor of Biology at Imperial College London. He is based at Silwood Park campus near Ascot, Berkshire. His research focuses on plant ecology.

Texte du rabat

An addition to the bestselling "New Naturalist" series, of interest to collectors of the series and general readers alike. Alien plants are of increasing interest to the environmentally interested general public.

Résumé
The word 'aliens' can be used in many ways, to invoke fear, dislike and fascination. For biologists it is used to indicate organisms that have been introduced by people to new territories. In the British Isles alien plants are common, conspicuous, pestiferous, beautiful, edible - and can be both useful and harmful.