The hidden world of seeds

These incredible images were taken using an SEM by Millennium Seed Bank seed morphologist Wolfgang Stuppy. They show some of the incredible microscopic structures that facilitate their dispersal, such as hooks to grab on to passing animals and fine hairs and air cushions to aid wind dispersal.

'Kingdom of Plants: A Journey Through Their Evolution' - a book by Will Benson

Although a zoologist by education I seem to have spent a rather disproportionally large amount of my time recently focusing on the lives of the botanical world. Well not being someone to do things by half, after finishing my work on Kingdom of Plants for Sky 3D last year I set about writing the accompanying book.

The book, entitled Kingdom of Plants: A Journey Through Their Evolution, is an exploration of the diversity of Earth's rich plant life. Its 256 pages and over 200 colour photographs tell the tales of the most bizarre and beautiful forms of floral life, the incredible ways they shape the environments they live in, and just how fundamental they are to the survival of our own species.

Finally after 4 months of researching, writing, editing, sourcing images and re-writing, I'm very pleased to say that the book is now published with Harper Collins and ready for you to feast your eyes upon. Available from Amazon / Waterstones / iTunes. I'm especially thrilled to announce that BBC Wildlife magazine selected it as 'book of the month' in their July 2012 issue.

 

A year in the Kingdom of Plants

I've been away from the blog-o-sphere for far too long, so I return with tales of the last 16 months spent working on Sky 3D's 'Kingdom of Plants 3D'. This of course is Sky's latest three-part 3D extravaganza all about the wonders of plants, presented by Sir David Attenborough.


Filmed predominantly in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the series explores the marvels of the botanical world, in breath-taking 3D. As the series researcher I had the fabulous task of poking around behind the scenes at the gardens, discovering stories of incredible orchids and awesome carnivorous plants, as well as the wealth of expert knowledge that maintains Kew's status as one of the world's premier botanical gardens.

Directed by Martin Williams and shot by Tim Cragg, Kingdom of Plants 3D sees the gardens and nurseries at Kew transformed into a hyper-real world of rich colours, exploding pollen grains and previously unseen interactions between insects and plants. Mesmerising time lapse footage, shot by the legend that is Tim Shepherd and the immensely talented Rob Hollingworth, creates some of the most enchanting footage of plants ever captured on film - although I may be biased.

The series will air or Sky 3D in May, with an IMAX release set for later in the year. Here's a little taster for you.