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Green Kingdom

The Family History of Plants

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Green Kingdom

By: Ben Dark
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Brought to you by Penguin.

The half a million species of plant alive today are a mere 3% of the vast number of plant species ever to have existed. All share a single common origin: the first plant-like algae to wash up on land 484 million years ago.

Through the stories of sixteen plant families, each representing a distinct evolutionary lineage, Green Kingdom tells the epic story of how plant-life emerged, adapted and came to shape our planet, from the development of stems, leaves, trunks and seeds, through to the emergence of flowers, poisons, carnivory and parasitism. Taking us into the lives and minds of the adventurers, poets, philosophers and scientists who pieced this staggeringly rich and dramatic story together over two millennia of observation and enquiry, Dark reveals how each turning point in the development of plants can be traced to a defining event in the planet’s history: catastrophic asteroid strikes, volcanic chain eruptions, sudden glaciations, or the gradual parting of continents.

Reanimating ancient lost worlds, and bringing the wonder and stupendous variety of plants to life as never before, Green Kingdom is both a hidden history of the earth and a family saga, as rich and unexpected as any story ever told.

© Ben Dark 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Biological Sciences Botany & Plants Evolution Evolution & Genetics Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science
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Critic reviews

What an awesome book. Illuminating, fascinating and superbly researched. Ben Dark is a master storyteller. I learned something on every page (NIGEL SLATER)
Utterly fascinating. I don't expect to read a better work of natural history this year (BILL BRYSON)
Ben Dark is a fantastic writer: his ability to relate science through story is both brilliant and rare, and Green Kingdom – in its palatial scope, beautiful phrasing and companionable humanity – is an extraordinary example of his brimming talent and a hugely enjoyable read (MATT COLLINS, author of The Tree Atlas)
With this new odyssey of plant evolution, Ben Dark emerges as a natural history writer of spectacular gifts. He tacks with enviable deftness between the microscopic and the cosmically immense, between the backward chasm of the past and the friendly minutiae of modern life, between hard science and the flowerings of human artistry. He can make a history of mosses into an adventure story full of luck and danger, monsters and meteorites. His prose is both lucid and beautiful, and often witty. A wonderful book (NICOLA SHULMAN, author of Graven with Diamonds)
Magnificently researched, captivatingly written and philosophically meaty, Green Kingdom skilfully weaves together the wonder of botanical evolution with human history and folklore to create a profound yet joyfully entertaining read. Dammit, if I had written this, I would die happy (JONATHAN DRORI, author of Around the World in 80 Plants)
A book that traverses deep time and takes the reader on a wondrous journey through the kingdom of plants. Ben Dark engaged me every step of the way with his elegant mix of storytelling and science (SUE STUART SMITH, author of The Well Gardened Mind)
Ben Dark – a worldwide, time-travelling storyteller – introduces us to characters with astonishing tales to tell. In Green Kingdom, Dark wears his scholarship lightly and brilliantly, weaving an epic narrative with botanical research. His curiosity and enthusiasm make for an unputdownable read (MARY KEEN, author of Diary of a Keen Gardener)
Green Kingdom reads like an adventure story, a love story, a history, a celebration and a revelation of the wonders of plant life. An emerald marvel as rich as the kingdom it describes (ROWAN HOOPER, author of Togetherness)
In Green Kingdom, Ben Dark, gardener extraordinaire and plant historian, gives plants their due: an epic story of 500 million years of evolution and adaptation, from the simplest bog mosses to ferns and evergreens to grasses and flowers and towering jungle trees. Through Dark’s light and airy prose, horticulture, history, science, and culture intertwine to celebrate the diversity and resilience of plants (STEVE BRUSATTE, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs)
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