Plant Hunting Adventures in Eastern Tropical Africa. 2024. 804 col. photographs. 608 p.gr8vo. Hardcover.

This book is a very personal account of Susan Carter‘s expeditions of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which included explorations of northern Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia and Zimbabwe, plus American sponsored journeys in Somalia and Sudan, 12 expeditions in all between 1977 and 1994. It was compiled from the notes she made while travelling and the many photos she took, not only of the plants she found, aloes, euphorbias, and other succulents - but also the places, habitats and situations she found herself in.

This book tells of places that are no longer accessible today, of localities where succulents no longer grow, and of experiences that could not be repeated today. It comprises 600 pages with more than 800 photos, including more than 120 photos taken at type localities and 38 photos of type plants in their habitat.

At the same time it follows the development of Susan Carter‘s career at Kew, until her retirement in 1995. In the thirty years since then, in her own words, she has “enjoyed helping colleagues, assessing and reviewing articles, especially for Euphorbia World, following new developments in molecular systematics and keeping in touch with many friends. It has truly been a life worth living!