A most enjoyable and detailed account of Roy Lancaster's journeys through China. The book provides practical assessment of the plants that are either of ornamental merit or botanical interest to gardeners in the West, and on his extensive travels Roy Lancaster follows in the footsteps of the great Victorian plant hunters and describes, in this, his magnus opus, some 1000 different plants in their natural habitat.

Over 400 of the author's own attractive and colourful photographs are reproduced in the book, interspersed with fascinating descriptions and anecdotes from his travels.

The book is about plants from a country so rich in variety that there are 50% more species on one mountain in China than in the whole of the British Isles. Indeed, the wide range of climatic conditions in a country as vast as China makes this book relevant to all gardeners, be they from Norway or Spain, the United Kingdom or Canada. The author has given us an eminently readable account of a fascinating country, its people, and the plants which have done so much to enrich the gardens of Europe and North America.

Fully illustrate with b/w and color photos,  2 maps. With Chinese Place Names, Botanic Gardens in China, Trees and Shrubs in Chinese Cities and Towns, Glossary and Indexes