S. Leonard Bastin

Born Samuel Leonard Bastin, he was an English journalist and natural history writer with strong links to Christchurch and the Bournemouth area. Sources connected with his public-domain and library records place his life around 1880 to 1947, and he is also noted as a contributor to periodicals including The Strand Magazine and Scientific American.

Bastin wrote accessible books and articles about plants and the outdoors, including works such as How to Know the Ferns, Flowerless Plants: How and Where They Grow, and Wonders of Plant Life. His writing has an inviting, explanatory style that fits the great age of popular nature writing, when authors aimed to bring science to ordinary readers without losing the sense of wonder.

He seems to have been especially interested in botany and in the surprising behaviors of plants. That mix of journalism, observation, and enthusiasm gives his work a friendly charm today, especially for listeners who enjoy classic nonfiction about the living world.