About the Author

Deni Bown is a freelance writer, photographer, and consultant based in Norfolk, England. She specializes in botany, gardening, herbs and natural history; her work covers many different aspects of the plant world. She says her interest in plants began with a childhood fascination for her grandfather's lilies and tulips, and a passion for wildflower spotting. After first gaining a First in English at Manchester University, Deni worked as the editor of Place Names for Collins English Dictionary. A self taught botanist, she then pursued a varied career in horticulture, running an organic smallholding, growing orchids professionally, and working for 5 years to help establish Hollington Herbs before taking to the camera and word processor. In 1997, after serving for several years as a Council Member, she became Chairman of The Herb Society. Deni is a respected and well-known writer. Her first book, Aroids, was originally published in 1988 and was followed by two others: Alba: The Book of White Flowers and Fine Herbs. She won the Garden Writer's Association of America award in 1989, and was a prize winner in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition in 1986. Her work also appears in various publications, including Aroideana, the journal of the International Aroid Society. For the first edition of Aroids - Plants of the Arum Family, Deni undertook a solo round-the-world aroid hunting trip, venturing into the rainforests of Sumatra looking for the spectacular Amorphophallus titanum. She has photographed botanic gardens in Europe, the United States, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, and Australia, and is also a regular researcher and photographer at both Kew and Edinburgh. Deni is married with 5 children, and is currently at work on developing a 6-acre garden devoted mainly to culinary, medicinal, and aromatic plants, which of course includes some aroids.

Reviews

The first [edition], published in 1988, was greeting as 'ground-breaking' and this is equally compelling. Hull Daily Mail 20001118 In 1988, Deni Bown published the first edition of this book, to universal acclaim. Now Ms. Bown has come forward with a second edition that is far richer than her first. -- Allen Lacy Homeground 20000115 Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family, published in 1988 by Timber Press, became a bible to lovers of philodendrons, elephant ears, anthuriums and related plants. It was the first time someone had compiled that plant family into an understandable, comprehensive and entertaining reference. This year the book has been revised, enlarged and enhanced with Bown's exquisite photographs. -- Georgia Tasker Miami Herald 20000917 This book is extremely well written... It's a fascinating book, and you'll be a better gardener for having read it. -- Clear Englebert FungShway.com 20001005 What a fascinating book! -- Susan Knorr Garden Views 20000905 It is actually gripping. ... By the end I was filled with admiration for the arum family and their elaborate ruses for pollination. -- Frank Ronan BBC Gardens 20071201 This second edition of Aroids offers the same high quality of information, photos and writing that made the prior edition a classic. Amateurs' Digest 20030106 While she certainly doesn't stint on scientific information, Bown has given us an eminently readable book. -- Susan Knorr Garden Views 20000910 Revisions cannot get much better than this one. How does Timber Press of Portland, Oregon, which consistently releases botanical and horticultural masterworks, continually defy the laws of economics to produce excellent works that are so inexpensively priced? -- Rudolf Schmid Taxon 20001115 I started out reading this book with an interest in aroids. I finished so excited about them I started looking in the phone book and on the Web for an aroid society to join here in Hawaii. Hawaii Horticulture 20001121 Once you read this book you'll start noticing aroids all over the place. And the stories told by Deni Brown will bring either a knowing smile to your face or a smirk of amusement. Hawaii Horticulture 20001122 It makes for some fascinating reading. Choice 20010104 Will astound readers with the unusualness of the plants ... Most interesting. -- Marty Figley Michigan Observer and Eccentric 20010426 A well produced high quality book with masses of useful information ... worth buying (or persuading someone to give you it as a present) for the hardy species alone. World of The Rhodedendron Newsletter 20000614 A tantalizing and wide ranging read on the natural history of aroids...Evocative, stimulating and accessible even on the most scientific aspects of her work. Captures the essence of this extraordinarily weird and wonderful family in a mouth-watering way. -- Fergus Garrett Gardens Illustrated 20011002 This book will take you to a new level of understanding about genera within the aroid family. Suite101.com 20010820 The new edition Bown's "Aroids" conveys so much interesting information with as much clarity and wit as anything botanical I've ever read. -- Guy Nesom Botanical Research Institute of Texas 20011015 Aroids flies far above many academically oriented books. Written with an easy flow and packed with fascinating and useful facts. Plant Science Bulletin 20010925 It belongs in any college or university library. Any amateur interested in plants, not just those who are amateur botanists, will find this book hard to close. Plant Science Bulletin 20010925 If you have any interest in this large plant family at all, Deni Bown's book is a must-have for your library. Hawaii Horticulture 20001121 A well produced high quality book with masses of useful information. Scottish Rhododendron Society Newsletter 20001204 A scholarly review of this amazing family... Puts into context the origins and habits of aroids and their cultivation. -- Stephen Pategas Ornamental Outlook 20050421