Encyclopedia of Flowers

Encyclopedia of Flowers is a visual exploration of the breathtaking floral arrangements by Makoto Azuma-encounters of unusual, sometimes exotic plants that wouldn't typically occur in nature. With his meticulously composed photographs, Shunsuke Shiinoki exposes the flowers' tenuous existence, their fragile forms, continuous metamorphoses, and inevitable decay.

In a contemporary manner, Encyclopedia of Flowers immerses the reader in a universe of extraordinary beauty while at the same time addressing dichotomies such as durability and vanity, artificiality and nature, hybrid culture and environmental change. This volume by the Japanese "haute-couture" florists includes an introduction by Makoto Azuma and an index identifying all of the more than 2,000 featured species with their binomial names.