Koechlin, leaf margins

Beyond the leaf edges
an approach to plants
edited by florianne koechlin

what and who is the plant? we have been dealing with these questions for years. the result is a collection of fragments that reflect not only scientific findings, but also personal experiences and observations. the book tells about the peculiarities of plants "beyond the edges of the leaves" and their communication skills, as well as about the networks of relationships that they create with other living beings and us humans.
we learn how plants communicate with scents or that the root system of a young rye plant grows almost five kilometers a day and how it uses fungal threads to form a dense underground network through which nutrients and information are exchanged. another fragment reports from the latest research: plants remember past events - and even pass these memories on to their offspring. this means that tomatoes that have been attacked by caterpillars once can defend themselves much more efficiently the second time. and their offspring are also better armed against predators - they have inherited the memories of the caterpillar attack from their parents.
so plants are not passive and isolated objects. they are subjects in nature's large network of relationships, in which we are also integrated. this raises the question of our responsibility towards them anew.
 
with contributions from
daniel ammann, chemist
denise battaglia, journalist
gertrud fassbind, nutritionist
bastiaan frich, permaculture consultant
thomas gröbly, ethicist
florianne koechlin, biologist
martin ott, farmer
beat sitter-liver, philosopher
beatrix sitter-liver, artist
patrik tschudin, science journalist
andres wiemken, botanist
 
press voice
»a must for everyone who is interested in plants and the great network of relationships in nature.«
ökologo
 
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lp 176
235 pages, cardboard
with 11 illustrations
€ 19.90, sfr. 25.–
isbn 978 3 85787 776 6
e-book
€ 14.99
isbn 978 3 85787 579 3 (epub)
isbn 978 3 85787 580 9 (mobipocket)