Arbres du Monde [Trees of the World]

About this book

Language: French

Trees provide us with a variety of ecosystem services. They produce fruit, give firewood, offer medicinal, environmental benefits and inspire poetry and legends. They are considered sacred in many religions and cultures. Botany, history, mythology and folklore have all provided us with a comprehensive study of what trees have meant to humans throughout the ages. Many mythologies around the world have the concept of the 'World tree' – a great tree that acts as 'Axis mundi' supporting and healing the cosmos, providing the link between the heavens, earth and the underworld.

Trees have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages, appearing in many areas relating to immortality and fertility. Yet like many plants, across the world, they are threatened directly through indiscriminate logging or through their habitat loss.

Arbres du Monde has been written and designed with the non-specialist reader in mind. It is subdivided into five parts for the five continents and highlights their contributions to the world's tree lore.

737 Colour photographs illustrate 296 examples of striking trees from around the world.

Summary in French:
Les arbres nous offrent une variété de services écosystémiques. lls produisent des fruits, donnent du bois pour le chauffage, offrent des avantages environnementaux, sont médicimales et inspirent poésie et de légendes. Ils sont considérés comme sacrés dans de nombreuses religions et cultures. La botanique, l'histoire, la mythologie et le folklore, not tous fourni une étude approfondie de ce que les arbres signifient pour l'homme à travers les âges. De nombreuses mythologies du monde entire not le concept de "l'Arbre du Monde" – un grand arbre qui agit comme "Axis mundi" et qui soutient et soigne les Cosmos, assurant la liaison entre les cieux, la terre et les enfers.

Les arbres ont pu donner un sens profond et sacré à travers les âges, apparaissant dans de nombreux domaines liés à l'immortalité et la fertilité. Pourtant, comme beaucoup de plantes, à travers le monde, ils sont menacés directement par l'exploitation forestière sans discernement ou par la perte de leur habitat.

Ce livre a été écrit et conçu avec le lecteur non-spécialiste à l'esprit. Il est subdivisé en cinq parties pour les cinq continents et met en évidence leurs contributions à la tradition de l'arbre du monde.

737 photographies en couleurs illustrent 296 de quelques arbres remarquables du monde entier.

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Biography

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD is presently the Managing Director of the Centre for Phytotherapy Research (CEPHYR). She has authored several books on Medicinal Plants and on the flora of Mauritius and Africa. In 2010, she also co-authored the African Herbal Pharmacopoeia.

Elected Fellow to the African, lslamic Academies of Science and the Linnean Society of London, she has received several international scientific prizes namely the l'Oreal-Unesco Prize for Women in Science (2007), the Special “Woman Professionals in Science” Prize of the CTA/NEPAD/RU FORUM/AG RA/ATPS/FARA (2009); the African Union ‘Woman in Science‘ Prize (2009). In 2013, she received the Honorary Doctorate from the Universite Pierre Marie Curie (Sorbonne Universites).