A Flora of Suffolk

By Martin Sanford and Richard Fisk. Published by D.K. and M.N. Sanford, 78 Murray Road, Ipswich IP3 9AQ

Price £40 (includes p&p)

Hard on the heels of ‘The Mammals of Suffolk’, published last year and reviewed in Winter 2009, Issue 112 of Suffolk View, comes another impressive and beautifully illustrated book dealing with natural history, this time the 2,500 plants to be found in our county.

This is no pocket guide to take on an afternoon’s ramble. Indeed is is a very large and weighty tome. It does not answer the question “what is this plant?” – there are many books available to fulfil the function of plant identification. This book gives you the almost more interesting information about “Where is this plant to be found?” and “Why is it there?”

After introductory sections on Suffolk’s landscape history, climate and habitats, including brief biographical sketches of notable Suffolk botanists, all the plants are listed, many with distribution maps, representing an amazing feat of data collection and recording undertaken by the Suffolk Biological Records Centre. Just as with the mammals, the native plants now have many non-native or introduced companions. These are described either as ‘archaeophytes’ (naturalised plants introduced by man before AD 1500 – often food or medicinal plants) or ‘neophytes’, those introduced after 1500; the latter being more likely to have been imported for their ornamental qualities.

From mighty trees and showy flowers to grasses, mosses and liverworts, some widely distributed and very familiar, others vanishingly rare, the roll-call of Suffolk’s flora is impressive. This fine book is an invaluable guide to the status, habitat and history of them all.