Nonfiction Books about Plants
1. 
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by:
Michael Pollan
4.06 avg rating — 58,652 ratings 2. 
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World
by:
Peter Wohlleben
4.07 avg rating — 84,754 ratings 3. 
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants 4.52 avg rating — 158,403 ratings
5. 
The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks
by:
Amy Stewart
4.02 avg rating — 10,450 ratings 6. 
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
by:
Amy Stewart
3.82 avg rating — 10,909 ratings 
8. 
The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History
by:
Thor Hanson
4.10 avg rating — 3,014 ratings 9. 
The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live & Why They Matter
by:
Colin Tudge
3.95 avg rating — 2,033 ratings 10. 
The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man
by:
Peter Tompkins
3.97 avg rating — 3,248 ratings 
13. 
Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature
by:
Richard Mabey
3.83 avg rating — 950 ratings 14. 
What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses
by:
Daniel Chamovitz
4.04 avg rating — 3,925 ratings 15. 
Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
by:
Amy Stewart
3.97 avg rating — 1,517 ratings 
18. 
19. 
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
by:
Dan Koeppel
3.81 avg rating — 5,278 ratings 20. 
Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love
by:
Simran Sethi
3.75 avg rating — 755 ratings 
22. 
22. 
A Garden of Marvels: How We Discovered that Flowers Have Sex, Leaves Eat Air, and Other Secrets of Plants
by:
Ruth Kassinger
3.85 avg rating — 458 ratings 24. 
Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secrets of Everyday Trees (Seeing Series)
by:
Nancy Ross Hugo
4.27 avg rating — 499 ratings 
26. 
The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives
by:
Stephen Buchmann
3.68 avg rating — 510 ratings 27. 
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
by:
Merlin Sheldrake
4.33 avg rating — 47,213 ratings 28. 
The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession
by:
Andrea Wulf
4.22 avg rating — 1,235 ratings 
30. 
Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower & the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused
by:
Mike Dash
3.66 avg rating — 2,884 ratings 
33. 
Papyrus: The Plant that Changed the World: From Ancient Egypt to Today's Water Wars
by:
John Gaudet
3.62 avg rating — 120 ratings 34. 
36. 
Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit
by:
Barry Estabrook
3.96 avg rating — 4,506 ratings 37. 
Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
by:
Giles Milton
3.82 avg rating — 5,238 ratings 38. 
The Flower of Empire: An Amazonian Water Lily, The Quest to Make it Bloom, and the World it Created
by:
Tatiana Holway
3.99 avg rating — 79 ratings 39. 
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest
by:
Suzanne Simard
4.21 avg rating — 15,840 ratings 
42. 
44. 
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
by:
John Vaillant
4.12 avg rating — 12,028 ratings 44. 
Latin for Gardeners: Over 3,000 Plant Names Explained and Explored 4.23 avg rating — 230 ratings
46. 
Secrets of Saffron: The Vagabond Life of the World's Most Seductive Spice
by:
Pat Willard
3.03 avg rating — 67 ratings 
48. 
The Plant Hunters: The Adventures of the World's Greatest Botanical Explorers
by:
Carolyn Fry
3.93 avg rating — 89 ratings 
50. 
Mushrooms: How To Identify and Gather Wild Mushrooms and Other Fungi
by:
Thomas Læssøe
4.33 avg rating — 238 ratings 51. 
Who Named the Daisy? Who Named the Rose?: A Roving Dictionary of North American Wildflowers
by:
Mary B. Durant
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12 ratings 52. 
The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession 3.81 avg rating — 1,132 ratings
54. 
Flora Illustrata: Great Works from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden
by:
Scott & Nix Inc.
4.32 avg rating — 40 ratings 55. 
Ginseng, the Divine Root: The Curious History of the Plant That Captivated the World
by:
David A. Taylor
3.55 avg rating — 58 ratings 
57. 
British Gardens in Time: The Greatest Gardens and the People Who Shaped Them
by:
Katie Campbell
3.50 avg rating — 10 ratings 58. 
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and Central North America 4.34 avg rating — 1,378 ratings
60. 
A Weed by Any Other Name: The Virtues of a Messy Lawn, or Learning to Love the Plants We Don't Plant
by:
Nancy Gift
3.38 avg rating — 45 ratings 
63. 
Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind
by:
Henry Hobhouse
3.82 avg rating — 621 ratings 64. 
65. 
The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History
by:
David Beerling
4.05 avg rating — 636 ratings 
67. 
American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree
by:
Susan Freinkel
4.10 avg rating — 355 ratings 68. 
The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts: How to Find, Identify, and Cook Them 4.13 avg rating — 151 ratings
69. 
Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales
by:
Marta McDowell
4.24 avg rating — 1,535 ratings 
71. 
71. 
Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya
by:
Donna Jo Napoli
4.21 avg rating — 1,036 ratings 71. 
Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness
by:
Maria Failla
3.92 avg rating — 272 ratings 75. 
How Carrots Won the Trojan War: Curious (but True) Stories of Common Vegetables
by:
Rebecca Rupp
3.52 avg rating — 584 ratings 
76. 
A Natural History of English Gardening: 1650-1800
by:
Mark Laird
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 15 ratings 76. 
Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa
by:
Jeanette Winter
4.33 avg rating — 1,315 ratings 
80. 
The Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees Above Us
by:
Meg Lowman
4.05 avg rating — 1,054 ratings 
82. 
Flora: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Plant Kingdom
by:
D.K. Publishing
4.70 avg rating — 213 ratings 83. 
The Trees of North America: Michaux and Redouté's American Masterpiece 4.39 avg rating — 28 ratings
84. 
Green Pharmacy: The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine
by:
Barbara Griggs
4.25 avg rating — 154 ratings 
86. 
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative 3.97 avg rating — 14,011 ratings
86. 
Sex, Botany, and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks (Revolutions in Science)
by:
Patricia Fara
3.38 avg rating — 202 ratings 
90. 
Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants
by:
Jane Goodall
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,579 ratings 91. 
Bizarre Botanicals: How to Grow String-of-Hearts, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Panda Ginger, and Other Weird and Wonderful Plants
by:
Larry Mellichamp
4.01 avg rating — 67 ratings 92. 
Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants 4.45 avg rating — 3,466 ratings
94. 
The High Frontier: Exploring the Tropical Rainforest Canopy
by:
Mark W. Moffett
4.59 avg rating — 44 ratings 
96. 
Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms
by:
Eugenia Bone
3.82 avg rating — 1,365 ratings 97. 
Heirloom Harvest: Modern Daguerreotypes of Historic Garden Treasures
by:
Amy Goldman
3.92 avg rating — 12 ratings 
98. 
Brother Cadfael's Herb Garden: An Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and Their Uses
by:
Robin Whiteman
4.28 avg rating — 183 ratings