Book Reviews

Book 9

Trees for Flower and Fragrance By Stirling Macoboy

Pub. Landsdowne Press, Sydney reprinted 1986.

This is a more of a coffee-table book, or light reference for the gardener. Yet it is one of the best finds I have ever made over thirty years of browsing second-hand bookshops. Stirling Macoby is described as a well-known writer, who’s activities have included featuring in The Sunday Times newspaper.

As you might guess, the book is a basically a botanically name-ordered photo-montage of flowering trees drawn from around the world, with some descriptive text, prefaced by a brief 3 page account of how to grow and tend flowering trees. Some two hundred and fifty examples are lavishly illustrated Some of these trees are commercially exploited for their fragrance – for example Plumeria spp. (Frangipani) and Michelia alba (the flower oil if which is sometimes rather deceptively in my opinion, sold as Magnolia flower oil). By far my favourite tree, Jacaranda mimosaefolia is gloriously illustrated, although a picture can never do justice to the breath-taking sight of seeing it growing in the wild, or seeing it as a garden escape in an exotic location.

It’s a book, which I might pack to take with me on trips to far-flung parts. But really, this is just a book for looking through, not talking about, so if you’ll excuse me I’ll just carry on browsing the photographs……..

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