'A meticulously researched, important and beautiful volume that goes well beyond the scope of its title to describe the hitherto neglected subject of woodland flora and place it in a broad ecological and historical context' - STEFAN BUCZACKI
Observing the plants of the forest floor - the flowers, ferns, sedges and grasses - can be a vital way of understanding our relationship with British woodland. They tell us stories about its history and past management, and can be a visible sign of progress when we get conservation right. For centuries, woodland plants have also been part of our lives in practical ways as food and medicines, and they have influenced our culture through poetry, perfume and pub signs.
In this insightful and original account, Keith Kirby explores how woodland plants in Great Britain have come to be where they are, coped with living in the shade of their bigger relatives, and responded to threats in the form of storms, fires, floods, the attentions of grazing herbivores and the effects of the changing seasons. Along the way, the reader is introduced to the work of important botanists who have walked the woods in the past, collecting information on where plants occur and why. In-depth profiles of some of our most important and popular ground flora species provide extra detail and insight.
Beautifully illustrated, Woodland Flowers is a must for anyone who appreciates and wants to learn more about British woodland and its plants.

Keith Kirby is currently a visiting researcher at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, where his main areas of work include analysis of long-term woodland changes and rewilding. Before that, he worked as a woodland ecologist with the government conservation agencies for many years, first with the Nature Conservancy Council and then its successor bodies, English Nature and Natural England. Keith was awarded the Royal Forestry Society Gold Medal for Distinguished Services to Forestry in 2011, and the CIEEM Medal for his outstanding, lifelong contribution to the advancement of ecology, forestry and woodland management in 2014. He has written widely for both refereed and more popular journals and the press, as well as co-editing the book Europe's Changing Woods and Forests and co-authoring the Woodland Survey Handbook.

Preface
Map
1 Into the woods
2 The wandering botanist
3 Historical influences and woodland plant distributions
4 Commonness and rarity
5 The wood below the ground
6 Types of British woodland: the north and west
7 Types of British woodland: the south and east
8 For everything there is a season
9 Mind the gap: the woodcutter's legacy
10 Unplanned forest disturbances
11 The effects of grazing animals
12 The nature of the wildwood
13 Woodland plants across the channels
14 Lines and links in the landscape
15 New woods and their flora
16 A changing atmosphere
17 Fun and games in the woods
18 Seven ages of conservation
19 Future-natural woodland: holding the line/going with the flow
Appendices
References
Illustration credits
Index