Top 100 Flowers: The World's Most Popular, Beautiful, and Commercially Valuable Ornamental Flowering Plants

by Ernest Small, Brenda Brookes

Overview

Flowers are universally admired. Flowers are the leading gift expressing love and respect. They prominently decorate our homes and cities, and they accompany all of the major events in human affairs, from birth through marriage and bereavement. Flowers are also of tremendous economic importance, representing billion-dollar industries in numerous countries. Hundreds of thousands of plant species produce flowers, but relatively few dominate the world of cultivated ornamental plants. Top 100 Flowers presents key information and illustrations of the world’s most popular, beautiful, and commercially valuable ornamental flowering plants.

Toward these goals, basic information is presented on the identification, appearance, names, history, growth requirements, economic aspects, and problem issues, as well as sources of additional library and online resources. Throughout the text, extensive photos, paintings, and diagrams are provided to illustrate the beauty and applications of the plants. Although the book is encyclopedic in nature, the information given is reduced to essentials and presented in non-technical language. The world’s leading flowering plants are stunningly attractive, and the thousands of illustrations presented were chosen not only for their explanatory and educational value but also to reflect the beauty and charm of the plants. The text relates many of the wonderfully entertaining stories that reflect the intimate relationships of people and our beloved flowers.

Features

• A unique compilation of authoritative, practical, and entertaining information and illustrations addressing the world’s most gorgeous and popular flowers
• Text is accessible, user-friendly, concise, and well-organized, making numerous topics comprehensible and readable not only by students, but also by the average layperson
• Wonderfully illustrated: approximately a billion photos, paintings, and diagrams were surveyed and the more than 3,500 chosen for this book represent the finest floral art ever assembled

The goal of Top 100 Flowers: The World’s Most Popular, Beautiful, and Commercially Valuable Ornamental Flowering Plants is to provide basic knowledge of practical interest to the horticultural industry, especially students, to choose, develop, and market profitable floral crops, and the public, to choose, grow, and appreciate flowers in their gardens and homes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781041002840
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	07/09/2025
Pages:	720
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr. Ernest Small received a doctorate from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1969. He has since been employed with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the country’s national department of agriculture, where he presently holds the status of Principal Research Scientist. He specializes on the evolution and classification of economically important plants, dealing particularly with food, forage, biodiversity, and medicinal species. The species Trigonella smallii (Small’s sweetclover) was named in his honor, and he himself has named dozens of new species. He is the author of 16 previous books, six of which received or were nominated for major awards. He has also authored over 400 scientific publications, mostly on economically important plants. Dr. Small’s career has included dozens of appearances as an expert witness in court cases, acting as an adviser to national governments, presenting numerous invited university and professional association lectures, participating in international societies and committees, journal editing, and media interviews. He has been an adjunct professor at numerous universities, and continues to supervise doctoral candidates. Dr. Small has received several professional honors, including: election as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London; the G.M. Cooley Prize of the American Association of Plant Taxonomists for work on the marijuana plant; the Agcellence Award for distinguished contributions to agriculture; the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal for contributions to science; the George Lawson Medal, the most prestigious award of the Canadian Botanical Association, for lifetime contributions to botany; the Lane Anderson Award, a $10,000.00 prize for science popularization; the Industry Leadership Award of the Canadian Hemp Trade Association (subsequently renamed in his honor); the Outstanding Paper in Plant Genetic Resources Award of the Crop Science Society of America; and appointment to the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest recognition of achievements.

Brenda Brookes received a Master of Science degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada in 1992. She recently retired from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, after more than 44 years as a botanist. She has authored three previous books and dozens of scientific publications, mostly on economically important plants. Ms. Brookes is also a professional dog breeder, specializing in Keeshonds and Pomeranians, and has also bred Pleasure Horses. She is well known in the canine world, her dogs having been awarded numerous championships and international awards. She has acted as a judge in many dog shows, taught aspiring dog breeders and show dog handlers, and lectured extensively on the subject. Not least among her many talents, Ms. Brookes is a professional artist, computer graphics expert, and web designer. She is an admirer of the great ecological conservationist Sir David Attenborough, with whom she has exchanged correspondence for years, and has long been a supporter of environmental protection.

Table of Contents

Introduction - How the choice of the top 100 flowers was made. Names of flowering ornamental plants. Summary of key features of the 100 flowering ornamentals. Importance of flowering plants to people and society. Glass houses for plants. Cut flowers. Color, the chief attraction of flowers. Fragrance of ornamental plants. Appearance of ornamental plants. Flowers and gender. Flowers and the welfare of the environment. Toxicity and edibility of flowers. Economics of ornamental flowering plants. Floriculture in the world. Floriculture in the United States. Ornamental plant breeding. Fascinating facts, fables, folklore, & frivolity. Each chapter is on an individual plant species – examples include African violet, bird of paradise, tulip, rose, wisteria, etc. and the chapter provides information on the identification, appearance, names, history, growth requirements, economic aspects, and problem issues.