A.'s volume on plants, humans and the divine in Virgil's oeuvre is a welcome contribution to Virgilian studies. It begins with a thorough introduction and is divided into two main parts under the general headings ‘Numen’ and ‘Homo’, which are further subdivided into chapters to allow scope for close readings and interpretations of specific Virgilian passages. This bipartite division is related to A.'s primary interest, which lies in the antithesis and intersection of the emotional and superstitious (‘non-rational’) associations the plants evoke together with scientific and pragmatic (‘rational’) understanding of their properties (pp. 1–2). The book ends with a concluding section, where there are only a few general comments on the way Virgil treats plants in the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid (pp. 293–4), while one would expect a summary of the different aspects of plants discussed in the previous chapters (i.e. ‘rational’ vs ‘non-rational’ and ‘wild’ vs ‘tame’).

The introduction offers ‘some background to the scientific and religious approaches with which the rest of the book is concerned’ (p. 2), briefly dealing with subjects related to plants. These include ancient botany and especially Greek and Roman views on wild and cultivated plants (anthropocentric approach), the various definitions of nature (‘nature / culture’, p. 8), whether there was environmental awareness in the ancient world (‘environmentalism’ and eco-criticism) and whether or not it is right to apply modern theories to ancient texts (p. 16). A. continues by examining the varied and complex relationships between man, the divine and the environment. She uses the broad term numen recalling ‘the nod of assent given by a god’ (p. 19), mostly focusing on the relationships between trees or plants and everyday religion and on trees as holy places and residences of Nymphs (‘divine interest or presence’). The introductory section ends with a subchapter entitled ‘Plants as Symbol and Metaphor’, focusing on the strong analogies between humans and plants and on the metapoetic function of plants in Virgil, which A. views as ‘a glimpse of a road not much taken’ (p. 41). Even though I can understand A.'s intention to leave aside the metapoetic function of plants (considering the number of studies that explore this topic) and to focus on other aspects of plants, there are more cases (e.g. auena and myricae, as A. prudently observes, pp. 41–9) where all the aspects of a plant should be equally examined and discussed. This would allow the reader to achieve a better understanding of the role(s) that each plant plays in the Virgilian oeuvre and that special species could be characterised as more significant than others in a literary text.

The next part is subdivided into two chapters entitled ‘Numinous Habitats’ and ‘Gods’ Special Species’. The first is concerned with ancient forests, groves and woods (silua, saltus, nemus, lucus) as well as arable / cultivated fields, orchards and gardens (ager, aruus, campus, nouale/-is, partum, rus, seges, arbusta, hortus), which are populated by divine powers, either in the presence of gods and demigods or by some vaguer numen. A.'s examination of several Virgilian passages begins with the Eclogues, whose sylvan countryside is closely associated with numina, although references to sacred groves related to religion are very rare, and usually the interaction between numina and human emotion strengthens and complicates pastoral motifs like the Virgilian pathetic fallacy (p. 61). Moving on to the Georgics, which are naturally concerned with cultivated land rather than ancient forests, it becomes evident that some specific references to numina are more comfortable in the woods, thereby confirming a divine dialogue between the Eclogues and the Georgics. Nonetheless, the powerful numina of the forests are fully taken advantage of in the Aeneid through the underworld woods and their aura of mystery and horror even when no deities are mentioned.

The second chapter continues the exploration of numinous habitats by examining ‘prominent types of vegetation – mainly, but not exclusively, trees’ (p. 115) (i.e. oak, poplar, pine, olive and wild olive, laurel / bay, myrtle, cypress and ivy), though without any reference to flowers or, most importantly, to the criteria with which these plants are considered by the author as more significant than others.

The bipartite division that characterises this monograph is also evidenced in its second part, entitled ‘Homo’, which is further subdivided into two chapters on ‘tame’ and on ‘wild’ plants. On the one hand, ‘tame’ is used to describe the plants that ‘require human assistance and intervention to flourish’ and are closely associated with ‘the mankind's aims and activities’ (p. 173). This interactive relationship between human and nature through the cultivation process (i.e. arboriculture and viticulture), especially in the Eclogues and the Georgics, is considered by A. as mutually complementary and harmonious (i.e. ‘symbiosis’, p. 173); although there are times at which this relationship is also referred to as shared suffering (i.e. ‘labor’) or violent, which A. terms ‘conflict’ (i.e. farming and grafting), arguing that nature is also ‘an unruly or hostile entity which has to be controlled by the human force, technique and reason’ (p. 173). On the other hand, ‘wild’ are the uncultivated plants that take care of themselves independently of mankind's activities and lie beyond their control or immediate use (i.e. various flowers, trees and especially weeds). Therefore, they provide the reader with ‘a tangled mixture of hostility, bafflement and admiration’ and confirm that the division between ‘tame’ and ‘wild’ plants is ‘clear and contrasting yet not always mutually exclusive’, as A. rightly observes (p. 173).

Overall, this monograph provides a thorough and intriguing approach on a subject that paves the way for future studies and interpretations of other Augustan poets. What is more, it is carefully produced, free of typographical errors (I did not notice any typos), and I learned a lot from it. The main issue that I have with this monograph is the excessive number of chapters and subchapters and the lack of balance between them. As a result, the structure is not always tight and occasionally it may confuse the reader, while cross-references that could have strengthened its unity are limited. Nonetheless, none of the criticisms above should distract readers from its value, given that this book is the first systematic study of the plants identified in the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid. Thus, it will be very welcome to students and scholars interested in the interactive relationship between the human and the natural world.