Take a bough, Mr Krishen

"Trees will be everywhere, in every garden however small it be, and along the sides of every roadway, and Imperial Delhi will be in the main a sea of foliage. It [...] is going to be quite different from any city that the world has known..." That's Capt. George Swinton, Chairman of the Town-Planning Committee in 1912, quoted in the introduction to Pradip Krishen's Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide.

Swinton's words gesture to the long history of planning that has made Delhi one of the greenest cities in the world. If you are, as I am, constantly amazed at the abundance, variety and beauty of the trees in what is otherwise a rather awful metropolis, then race out and get this excellent volume which serves as guide, mentor and friend to both budding botanist and interested citizen. Its three sections span a wide range of information, from the history of the city's trees to basic lessons in parts of a tree, to visual identification and scientific taxonomies, to interesting tidbits and trivia, to personal anecdotes from the insatiably curious researcher.

The introduction redraws Delhi in botanist's terms, providing physical maps of terrain, soil type and trees, and history as it impacted the growing and cutting down of trees. The main section, the "Tree Guide", presents a welter of information, simply but without condescension. It groups together all trees with similar leaves (jamun-like, imli-like, palm-like, etc) and spends between half a page and two pages on each tree. Every entry includes: common, scientific and local names and family; a short introduction; an "Identikit" describing the chief characteristics such as size, roots, bark, leaves and fruits; seasons; where to see it in Delhi; what it could be confused with, if applicable; and (for common trees) a sidebar on habitat, range and uses. Here and there a small box indicates a link to an allied fact or story in the Back of the Book, where you can find quirky facts and interesting histories. Better-informed botanists might well poke holes in the content, but to my own ignorant layperson's eyes it's a treat.

Integral to this success is the design of the book, which does a remarkable job of displaying many fiddly bits of content and visuals clearly and cleanly. An attractive layout is backed by high production values, which ensure creamy pages and rich photographs. The pages are securely bound, as they should be in any book that must expect lots of handling.

One of the great strengths of this work is that, because it's a labour of love by an autodidact botanist who's been in the field for forty years, it is refreshingly free of pedantry. The narrative voice is confident and erudite, yet does not take itself terribly seriously. It is unafraid to take its own stand on the many knotty controversies that plague and divide the world of botany. The voice has a distinct personality""an engaging, chatty, informative acquaintance who takes you by the hand and shows you things you'd never have noticed yourself. Rarely have a bunch of Latinate terms been made so accessible, by virtue of relegating them to the periphery of the experience. They're there for those who want them, but the book is structured in favour of a functional rather than academic education. You will learn to recognise the amla tree even if you can't be bothered with the term Phyllanthus emblica. And that is the book's secret weapon: it offers the average person a lovely way to connect to the city, and not a cheat sheet to mug for cocktail conversation.

Hopefully a second edition of Trees of Delhi will rectify its few shortcomings. For instance, while the main section links to the Back of the Book by page number, the latter is not cross-referenced""this is a book you dip into rather than read, and when you're snacking on the un-illustrated Back of the Book, it would be nice to have a page number referencing a visual.

This is very much a book by a citizen of Delhi for the citizens of Delhi (though not exclusively), and it is threaded with affection for our tree-filled city. Used properly, it is likely to infect its readers with the same affection, if they didn't already have it. Keep it in your car and take it on your walks because, sadly, one reading won't turn you into a genius. Knowing your trees is a matter of practice, practice, practice. The reward is that the city of Delhi will open up in the most delightful new ways.

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TREES OF DELHI
A FIELD GUIDE

Pradip Krishen
Dorling Kindersley
Price: Rs 799; Pages: 360