FLOWER POWER

With an assist from author Paxmann and translator Michael, “Hajek has chosen to tell the stories of some of our most amazing plants, using words and illustrations to spark our imaginations.”

That’s what the introduction asserts, and the book delivers. It is perfect for browsing; open at any point, and a double-page spread offers a complete package of informative, often humorous, text on the verso and whimsical, colorful art on the recto. As the endnotes explain, all pages are deliberately treated to appear as if painted on wood. Nevertheless, the print—including colored headings and teaser questions—is easy to read. The text, dexterously translated from German, unabashedly relates the (Eurocentric) histories of Hajek’s chosen flowers. The art follows suit with its highly stylized, folk-art–inspired images of mostly white people garbed in fashions from earlier centuries. The exceptions are a graceful depiction of an Indian woman with ginger—since the root arrived in Europe via India—and tattooed people who might represent South Americans or Pacific Islanders with the pineapple. Each plant’s story is unique, but all give bits of history, folklore, and science. Some fascinating facts relate how modern science has confirmed nearly miraculous botanical properties already known and taught by generations of lay healers and researchers, as in the case of pineapples’ bromelain. There is a rudimentary explanation of phytopharmaceuticals. Other facts are simply fun: Who knew about a salt-shaker patent modeled on the red poppy’s seedcase?

As stimulating as a blast of chicory root.