Word has recently reached me in my own little corner of The Shire that this coming August will see the publication of a book that I very much hope turns out to be as clever as it has the potential to be: Flora of Middle-Earth; Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium.
Written by Walter S. Judd, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology, University of Florida, and illustrated by Graham Judd of Augsburg College and Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Flora of Middle-Earth presents a “detailed species account of every plant found in Tolkien’s universe, complete with the etymology of the plant’s name, a discussion of its significance within Tolkien’s work, a description of the plant’s distribution and ecology, and an original hand-drawn illustration.”
While an admirer of Tolkien’s work but not by any means a devoted fan, I am nevertheless very curious – and admittedly eager – to discover just what Professor Judd has written about the botany incorporated by Tolkien in his fantastic world of Middle-Earth.
