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There are around 400,000 trees in Vienna's parks and gardens, and they are increasingly struggling with the effects of climate change, heat and drought in the city. Which trees cope better with this? Which trees are the classics in urban areas? And which are the exotic ones? Answers to these and other questions and topics can be found in the book 50 Viennese Trees by Falter-Verlag. The author, Thomas Roth, studied landscape planning with a focus on urban vegetation, is head of the woody science and tree nursery, garden and landscape design department at the HBLFA (Higher Federal Teaching and Research Institute for Horticulture and Austrian Federal Gardens) and is therefore a proven expert. He knows how to cover the topic broadly and convey it in a gripping manner. The trees are represented visually using colorful illustrations by Silvia Ungersböck, who has already illustrated several books from Falter-Verlag (Famous Birds, Botanical Walks).
Roth begins his book with this request (page 15) and wants to raise awareness of the greenness of Vienna's trees, which have not been doing so well in recent years. "But if you look closely and develop a feeling for trees, you will quickly realize that most city trees are suffering." Anyone who thinks that the book of 50 Viennese trees, from the magnolia (page 17) to the final rubber elm (page 177), is a single story of suffering is wrong. With a broad range of expertise, Roth guides you through the city, describing trees and their stories in precise detail. The respective representation follows a fixed pattern, starting with the name of the tree (Tree of God), its botanical name (Ailanthus altissima) and an appropriate title (Ghetto palms on urban wastelands). The location of the tree can be found in the marginal column. Here (page 52) Kendlerstrasse, corner of Steinbruchstrasse in the 15th district is mentioned. Below, a QR code invites you to scan it, which leads to a suitable song, in this case Ernst Molden's Wuazln from the album schdrom (2016).
For every tree, i.e. for every species, there are Vienna-specific stories, which once again justify the title of the highly readable and informative book 50 Viennese Trees and are, so to speak, a best-of.
If you want to put all of Vienna's botany in your pocket, the handy format (19.8 x 12.8 cm) of Vienna's flora is a good choice. This identification key is based on the classic Excursion Flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol (3rd edition, 2008) and covers "the most common species and those protected in Vienna with pictures, a short description and a greatly simplified distribution map," says the team of authors in the foreword (page 5). Here you can also find out that no other city in Central Europe has as many plant species as Vienna. There are more than 2000 (!), as you can find out on page 33. This is due to the encounter between different climate zones and habitats, from alpine plants to aquatic plants in the Lobau.
After introductory chapters about Vienna's natural environment (geology, soils, climate) and the origins of the city, a part about the natural vegetation follows from page 12. The habitats of forests, forest edges, meadows and pastures as well as bodies of water are described here, along with the typical plants in each case. There is then a short section about Vienna's protected areas including a map, before explanations of use (page 33) move on to the presentation of 643 plant species on double pages from pages 36 to 356. On the left pages there are compact texts with German and Latin plant names and a short description including location information and a small map of the occurrence; There is a characteristic image on the right-hand pages. Mostly they are flowers and leaves. The combination of species on the individual pages is based solely on the similarity of the flowers (pages 33). The sequence begins with spore plants, goes through grasses to conifers and flowering plants and here too follows the flower color. This can be found in the leading color at the top of the left page.
"This book is a visual aid; it helps to direct our attention to the details in the green tangle of plants in front of us and around us," writes Manfred A. Fischer, a botanist at the University of Vienna, in the foreword. Fischer provided technical support for the book by Margaret Erös and Elisabeth Gaviria. Erös, born in England, studied biology and geology there before teaching biology in Switzerland and choosing Vienna as her main residence from 1984 onwards. Gaviria, studied zoology and botany before receiving her doctorate as a limnologist. In a word, the authors have technical and linguistic knowledge to competently convey the flora of the Upper Lobau, i.e. the Viennese part of the Donau-Auen National Park, which is shown here with hundreds of pictures. After a brief overview of the history of the Lobau (from page XII), six habitats are sketched (from page XVI), before the nomenclature of flower parts, inflorescences and leaves including fruit shapes follows on a double page.
After an instruction "How do I identify a flower in 4 steps", which also serves as a guide for using the book, there are 244 pages that lead through the flora of the Lobau as a colorful picture sheet. The structure is in alphabetical order using Latin names of plant families. Specifically, from Alismataceae (frog spoon family) to Violaceae (violet family). To use the English terms: from Water-plantain family to Violet family. The bilingual book is a multi-layered identification aid thanks to numerous pictures that not only show flowers, but also leaves and fruits, and pictograms. At the end of the book there are a few pages with small Lobau animals, such as butterflies, frogs, snails and some birds. A register containing German, English and Latin names of the plants is a valuable search aid.
Conclusion: 50 Viennese Trees impresses as a feature-length reading book with a broad approach. Vienna's flora is easy to pack in and impresses with its compactness. The book Wildflowers of Lobau impresses with the variety of images that show all parts of the plants. (Thomas Hofmann, April 4, 2025)