MUSSELMAN ON "WITH GOOD REASON" RADIO PROGRAM NOV. 15

Lytton John Musselman, the Mary Payne Hogan Professor of Botany and chair of the Department of Biological Studies at Old Dominion University, will discuss his new book about the plants of the holy lands as a guest on the public radio show "With Good Reason," which airs on stations throughout Virginia Nov. 10-16.

The book, "Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran," was published by Timber Press on Nov. 1. Musselman's interview can be heard in southeastern Virginia on WHRV-89.5 FM at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15.

The broadcast also can be heard after Nov. 15 by visiting the Hampton Roads public broadcasting family of Web sites at WHRO.org. At http://www.withgoodreasonradio.org, the program can be found in the archives.

Musselman's lavishly illustrated edition celebrates more than 100 plants-ranging from acacia, the wood of the tabernacle, to wormwood, whose bitter leaves flavor absinthe-that are named in the Old Testament and New Testament, including the Apocrypha, as well as in the Quran.

The book's forward is written by "A Prairie Home Companion" creator and host Garrison Keillor.

Musselman has studied plants of Biblical lands for three decades and has published several books, including "Jordan in Bloom � Wildflowers of the Holy Land" (2000), commissioned by Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan. For more information about the new book, visit www.timberpress.com and do an "author" search for Musselman.

"With Good Reason" is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.