The Technical Category award was presented to:

Legumes of the World
ed. by Gwilym Lewis et al.,
Kew Publishing, Richmond, UK, 2005 ISBN 1900347806
xiv, 577 pages; hard cover; 30 cm.; color photographs and line drawings.
(£55 ; $100.65 US)

June 1, 2006 -- Legumes of the World (Kew, 2005), edited by Gwilym Lewis et al., and The Naming of Names: The Search for Order in the World of Plants (Bloomsbury, 2005), by Anna Pavord, have won the 2006 Annual Literature Awards from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries.

The awards honor both the author and the publisher of works that make a significant contribution to the literature of botany and horticulture. This year's awards were announced May 18 at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., during CBHL's annual meeting, hosted by the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

Anna Pavord's The Naming of Names, a lavishly illustrated history of plant taxonomy published by Bloomsbury, was the winner in CBHL's general interest category. The book begins with Aristotle's student Theophrastus, who compiled the first written work on plants; acknowledges Arabic influence on scientific classification schemes; then moves past what the author calls the “black hole” of medieval scholarship and on to the first printed herbals, ending with John Ray and his six rules that “provided the vital underpinning of a new discipline.” Pavord is “a stylish writer who mingles a love of research with a lively sense of narrative and packs her whodunit with heroes and scoundrels, innovators and plagiarists” (Patricia Jonas, Director of Library Services, Brooklyn Botanic Garden).

Legumes of the World, edited by Gwilym Lewis, Brian Schrire, Barbara Mackinder, and Mike Lock, and published by The Royal Botanic Gardens' Kew Publishing, won CBHL's award in the technical category. It is the first comprehensive, illustrated guide to the world's 727 legume genera and an essential reference in botany, horticulture, and agriculture. “Exceptionally beautiful, scrumptiously illustrated with over 1,100 charts, drawings and photos that are mostly in color, yet reasonably priced, Legumes of the World sets a new standard” (Rudolf Schmid, UC Berkeley, in Taxon 55:1).

CBHL is the leading professional organization in the field of botanical and horticultural information services. It recognizes the crucial importance of collecting, preserving, and making accessible the accumulated knowledge about plants for present and future generation. For more information, visit http://www.cbhl.net

The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. is the leading professional organization in the field of botanical and horticultural information services. It recognizes the critical importance of collecting, preserving, and making accessible the accumulated knowledge about plants for present and future generations. For more information, visit its web site at http://www.cbhl.net