CATEGORY:COMMENTARY
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By Dr. Francis Alexis (Local attorney-at-law and political leader of the PLM - People's Labour Movement).


ST.GEORGE’S, Grenada – Locally based Grenadian plant scientists, Mr. Dean Jules and Dr. Guido Marcelle teamed up with UK-based Englishman Professor William D. Hawthorne to document Spice Island plants and the end product is a great book entitled CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS . This book is published by Oxford Forestry Institute, Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, England, in collaboration with Grenada Forestry Department, and the Department for International Development (“DFID”) -UK, for whom it was printed in Trinidad and Tobago. It presents 300 pages, with colour photos.

SPICE ISLAND PLANTS
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The book CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS is really about plants of the Spice Isle, Grenada. And oh what a treasury is this book of learning on trees,
shrubs, flowers, vines, climbers and other plant life of Grenada. Plants growing for food are there. Plants producing timber for the shelter of man are included. Plants growing to display beauty are on show. There are plants we saw grow. So too plants long ago sprung, beholding generations
of man come and go. Published in 2004, the book preserves memories of some plants which Ivan and Emily conspired to liquidate.

The book gives us the scientific botanical names of many of Grenada’s plants. As far as possible, too, the book records the names by which our
Grenadian plants are known locally in our Grenadian folk culture.

COLOUR DISPLAY
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Many of our Grenadian plants are captured in colour photographs and displayed throughout CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS. These photos are
commandingly striking in all their lush topical beauty, a rainbow of colours, flashed resplendent against golden sunshine, captivating blue skies and deep greenery. These photos had to come from a spice island paradise. It is so exciting to see our Grenadian plant life exhibited in true technicolour in the book.

The wonder of the photos is well matched by the fullness of the information on the plants, identified both by their scientific botanical designations and their local folk names. The providing of such information required very
detailed familiarity with both formal scientific learning and local cultural terms.

SUBJECT INTERESTS
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CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS is of attraction to all kinds of readers. These include the professional farmer, agricultural officers,
agro-industrialists, kitchen gardeners, flower gardeners, hoteliers, tourist tour-guides, the hospitality industry, students at all levels from
primary school to post-graduate university research, naturalists and environmentalists.

Equally diverse are the book’s subject interests. One is botany, the study of plant life, just simply knowing that a plant exists and has a name.
Another is chemistry, what the chemical constituents of a plant are, and what makes it tick, like nettle stinging so sharply and instantly; this subject may grow from the book. The book can be a great aid to tourism.It can attract tourists to come to Grenada. It is a unique memento of a stay in Grenada, for overseas-based Grenadians coming to Grenada on holiday
and returning abroad, equally as for persons from other countries visiting Grenada.

As the book is fabulous and of appeal to so many different readers and subject interests, Oxford Forestry Institute in England gladly put its name
on the book. On the Internet, Google is splashing information on the book. Google says that CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS, on trees, shrubs and climbers of Grenada, is a picture gallery with notes on identification, historical and other trivia. Google describes it as “the first comprehensive identification guide dedicated to the plants of this island”, a picture -based plant guide promoting field identification as an activity, while satisfying the demands of the botanically curious tourist.

RELEASE IT
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CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS, a book on Grenada, is on sale on the Internet, but not yet available for purchase locally in Grenada, although
two of its joint authors, Mr. Dean Jules and Dr. Guido Marcelle, are home-based Grenadians.

Grenada Forestry Department had a hand in commissioning the research which generated the book with financing from DFID-UK, home of the main author Professor William D. Hawthorne . omplimentary copies of the book have been given to schools and libraries. But copies to the book have been collecting dust in storerooms of the Government of Grenada, rather than released on sale to the many persons who have been going in search of a copy to buy. It took botanical scientists to write the book, but it cannot take
rocket scientists to decide by what machinery and at what price the book may be released on sale in Grenada.



CONGRATS
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Mr. Dean Jules and Dr. Guido Marcelle deserve warmest congratulations on being joint authors with William D. Hawthorne in writing a book so excellent that Oxford Forestry Institute proudly associates itself with the book. As Google says, the book’s notes combine botanical accuracy and ecological context with points of cultural and historical interest to make an excellent
companion to Grenada and its flora. Very high accolade is due Mr. Jules and Dr. Marcelle for their contribution to the production of the exciting book CARIBBEAN SPICE ISLAND PLANTS.