How did the small poppy influence great empires and how did sugarcane determine the course of the slave trade in modern times? Why is the banana associated with "banana republics" and genetically modified plants with Dr. Frankenstein? How do some plants manage to survive at temperatures of tens of degrees Celsius below zero, while others in almost absolute drought? Why have the lily and the Chinese lotus been associated with the immaculate and the pure? What were the first plants that colonized the land like and how might plants be in other habitable worlds? This book includes 37 short and long stories about plants that influenced history, and were influenced by it, or about others whose exceptional performances ignite the imagination not only of scientists but also of the general public. Reading it requires only very basic knowledge of biology. The book is aimed at the curious reader who, with the tools of common sense and simple human curiosity, tries to perceive and understand the world that surrounds us. And plants are the ideal excuse for such an exciting adventure.