PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

August, 1968   Volume Fourteen   Number Two

Philip A. Munz: A Portrait

Sherwin Carlguist
Claremont Graduate School

When you walk into Phil Munz's office in a sunny corner of the Botanic Garden building, you will find a smiling, white-haired man who looks like a grandfather (he is). Phil will welcome you, take a genuine interest in your work or problems, be a good listener, and offer whatever bits of pertinent information he can glean from his 51 years as a professional botanist. He will give you the encouragement you need, as he has done for generations of students and colleagues. Or he may tell you about gargoyles and quaint medieval towns in Germany, or how the deer have been eating his rosebushes because the foot-hill chaparral is so dry this year. His friendliness is natural, and that of a Westerner: He was born in rural Wyoming in 1892.

Phil's office, like Phil, is unpretentious. You will find there, however, such memorabilia as a copy of his Cornell thesis, "A venational study of the suborder Zygoptera (Odonata)," from the Memoirs of the American llmatom»olo,qical Society of 1919. Phil is secretly proud of the fact that his botanical career grew out of entomology. Today, many base their titles as biologists on their memberships in biology departments. Those of Phil Munz's generation were perhaps more genuinely comprehensive in their scope, and more truly appreciative of work in various fields.

When he began his career as an Assistant Professor of Botany at Pomona College in 1917, Claremont was a remote one-college (and perhaps one-horse) town. There were no signs at that time that Claremont would, in 1968, host six thriving colleges affiliated in an Oxford-like scheme. Far from the eastern centers, Pomona College was only a small liberal arts college which had not yet achieved national recognition. Although others might have wished to escape to more prestigious institutions, Phil instead chose to develop his institution, and develop in it. His teaching duties at Pomona College were considerable, and not rewarding in the sense that this college could be expected to turn out many distinguished botanists. Nevertheless, many students remember Dr. Munz as a sound and enthusiastic teacher   including a few who did, in fact, become well-known to botanists such as David D. Keck, F. Raymond Fosberg, C. L Hitchcock, and Ivan Johnston.

Phil used fragments of time to advantage, and managed in this way to build a remarkably good herbarium. Weekends allowed opportunities for numerous field trips, usually with students or his wife Alice and his sons Fred and Bob. Phil's program of meeting the needs of his local area led him to publish, in 1935. "A Manual of Southern California Botany." Today, one would have no difficulty in publishing such a useful work, but at that time Phil had to secure such support as that by Ellen Browning Scripps, noted patronness of the Claremont Colleges. Field work alerted Phil to problems of conservation long before they became problems. Few realize that Phil Munz's foresight resulted in the timely preservation of Joshua Tree National Monument, a fine natural area today surrounded by desert areas devastated by civilizar tion. In addition to such tasks. Phil Munz began studies on the taxonomy of Onagraceae. If you asked him his reasons for undertaking these varied activities, he would probably say merely, "It needed to be done." Phil has always accepted graciously assignments of an arduous and unglamorous nature.

In 1944, Phil did accept a position at Cornell, for he was uniquely qualified for programs at the Bailey Hotrorium. However, only two years later. Phil left for a position which some would have seen as just as unpromising as his 1917 appointment at Pomona College. In 1946, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden was a botanic garden only in the sense that it displayed California wild-flowers. Because of its location in the remote Santa Ana Canyon, relatively few visitors found their way to this attraction. It had no academic affiliation, and in fact it was merely a portion of a large ranch property. It did have a determined founder, Susanna Bixby Bryant. who showed signs of willingness to devote her resources to this enterprise if the new director gave creative and sound leadership. This Phil Munz did. with diplomacy and quiet wisdom. Shortly after Mrs. Bryant's death, Phil Munz succeeded in convincing the trustees that the entire Botanic Garden should be moved--a strategy that would have been considered preposterously visionary by a less patient and far-seeing man. If Phil's only contributions to botany had been the moving of die Botanic Garden and the precedents he set as Director, he would merit the admiration of the American botanical community.

In 1950, the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden was moved to Claremont, where it has a formal affiliation with Claremont Graduate School. Of the several botanic garden-university affiliations, this has proved one of the more successful, because it is geographically adjacent to the Claremont Colleges, because it has good staff and facilities, and because classes and student offices are

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located there. These arrangements were designed by Phil Munz, and represent judgments of a man who is a gentle and intuitive administrator rather than an aggressive captain. If Claremont botanists achieve distinction, they do so at least in part because Phil Munz has provided a good environment for them. He has had keen insight into fields of botany other than his own, and into the personalities and facilities needed to represent these fields at the Botanic Garden. Indeed, the herbarium and library draw botanists from all of southern California. As an honorary staff member of the Botanic Garden, I have the privileges of this institution, in which opportunity is matched with a low-pressure yet stimulating atmosphere. Lincoln Constance once perceptively dubbed the Botanic Garden a "Shangri-La."

True to the spirit of the original Shangri-La. Phil Munz seems not to have aged at all. Few 26-year old botanists have the keen enthusiasm of this 76-year old man. You wouldn't guess that he had, within the last two decades, written, with collaborators, the enormous, "A California Flora." And four wildflower books! And the volume Onagraceae for the "North American Flora." And a monograph of the Asiatic and African species of Delphinium and Con.rolida.

Today, if you walk into Phil's office, you'll probably find him reading proof on a supplement to "A California Flora." Because of his continuing interest in this volume, it will likely become a sort of perpetual flora, like "Gray's Manual." He's also working on the Onagraceae of Ecuador, and planning a new flora of southern California. I would bet that he'd get them all done, but he won't be too busy to see you if you walk into his office. When you do, he may tell you how much fun it has been to be a botanist, and he'll really mean it.

Common Plants Useful for Classrooms

Elizabeth 1V. Reed avd Elizabeth A. Ihrig University of Minnesota

Botanists have been remiss in exploiting the classroom possibilities of living plants. 'We hope in the long run, botanists prefer living plants to dried, preserved, dissected or sectioned ones, or to plastic plants or models; certainly. students do. Living plants can be used for many purposes in any curriculum, from kindergarten through college. The graduate student in Education learns about Piaget's theories but is at a loss to know which kinds of seeds to use in germination experiments. The young college instructor is well primed in oxidative phosphorylation but is help-less to know what plants to start for auxin experiments, where to ,get them, and how to grow them. Many teachers, regardless of level, need help from botanists in promoting the use of living plants in more classrooms. Postlethwait and Enochs (1967) present many useful data on this topic.

This paper is a report of year-long tests carried out on various common species of angiosperms to determine their survival capacity and growth potential under ordinary classroom conditions. The study was confined to class-room conditions, because most schools, including many small colleges, do not have greenhouses or other sophisticated, controlled environment areas. (For a report on some greenhouse problems see Reed and Hill, in press.) However, floral carts (movable tiers of trays fitted with fluorescent lights) can be used as "instant" greenhouses in classrooms (Reed 1966).

Since living plants need more than storage cabinets for a viable environment, it is necessary to find common plants that are able to grow and develop under relatively unfavorable classroom conditions. The chief environmental conditions in classrooms may be desert-like humidity, fluctuating temperatures (the heat is turned down on Fridays), great variations in soil moisture (you flood the plants on Friday so they will not be entirely wilted on Monday), poor light, and varying day lengths. All the plants that were tested were readily available: easily obtained bulbs, seeds, or common garden and house plants that could be acquired without special ordering. They were grown in our offices under the usual classroom conditions. The maximum exposure to sunlight did not exceed three hours. There were also the customary office ceiling fluorescent lights. Our basic premise was that if the plants did well under these conditions, they could be recommended for classrooms. Unless otherwise stated, the plants were grown in plastic pots in a mixture of one-third sand, one-third peat, and one-third sifted black potting soil. Pots were set on gravel in pans so that additional water could be added for weekends and so the amount of water vapor immediately around the plants could be increased.

Bulbs.   Bulbs seemed to offer special possibilities for classroom use since they are really packaged plants which should be able to develop adequately before succumbing to an unfavorable environment. Many bulbs require a pre-treatment. The pre-treatment in these experiments consisted of keeping the planted bulbs covered with opaque

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paper cups until the flower buds were well up through the necks of the bulbs. We hoped to find some bulbs that did not need this inconvenient pre-treatment. The

results are summarized in Table 1; plus signs indicate such positive results as good growth and well-developed blossoms.

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As might have been expected, only the old standby, paper white narcissus, or its yellow variant, came through satisfactorily without the lengthy pre-treatment in darkness. It was easily grown on pebbles in water. Amaryllis bulbs also develop well without pre-treatment, but these are more expensive and somewhat more difficult to obtain than the common narcissus bulbs. Despite the fact that bulbs of Colchictoo aiitit vale will produce flowers with-out any treatment at all (dry bulbs on a table top will produce blossoms), this plant was rejected as a possibility because of its poisonous qualities.

Seeds.—Any seeds used in the classroom should be inexpensive, easily obtained. and have short germination periods. Commercially packaged garden seeds usually germinate well and are relatively disease-free. Flower and vegetable seeds were rested for speed of germination, length of time to flowering, and production of viable seed. The test seeds were germinated in trays in the soil mixture referred to earlier. We placed a plastic cover over the trays until the seedlings appeared. Those young plants which seemed to be developing well were transplanted into small pots. Seedlings which take too long to develop, are too delicate to withstand the vicissitudes of the class-room, or are too small to be easily handled, are not useful to most teachers; these were discarded. The tests ran from the seed planting in January to the final evaluation in May. No hand pollination was done. Results are summarized in Table 2. Germination is defined as the first emergence of the seedling above the soil; flowering is the first opening of a bud: seed is the first visible enlargement of the ovary; and second generation is the production of ,germinating seeds from the original test plant.

Experiments with seeds yielded the following information: There are many rapidly germinating flower and vegetable seeds, but some of the seedlings are too delicate for most classroom uses.

1. For seed germination and tropism experiments, mung beans and radishes provided the best all-around material.

2. The scarlet runner bean, in either the standard or dwarf form, showed the most spectacular development in growth. Seedlings were well-developed and 12-inches high when the other seedlings were still only one to two inches high. The leaflets responded rapidly to light, with each leaflet twisting on its pulvinus, so that the leaves "cupped" toward the light. The flowers were beautiful, but the buds often aborted and no seed pods were formed.

6. For studying life cycles and for general interest, the morning glory surpassed all the other plants we tried. The vines can be trained on strings in windows and will show interesting twining and phototropic responses; they will bloom continuously and form viable seed which germinates in a few days to repeat the cycle. We raised four successive generations in the same pots. The more elegant varieties of morning glories may be self-sterile, so it is best to grow only the cheapest, mixed-color varieties.

4. In addition to the morning glories, the string bean and the Tiny Tim tomato also produced viable seed which germinated a few days after planting. However, any plant that will bloom, whether it produces viable seed or not, will provide material for many uses, including growth measurements, experiments in plant physiology, and studies in gross and microscopic structure. The cucumber is especially interesting because of its attractive tendril-bearing vine, bright yellow blossoms, and tiny fruits (which did not mature under our conditions).

Hoare and , ardetz Natal .—Thc common "green" plants (philodendrons. etc.) used by interior decorators are some-times indistinguishable from their plastic counterparts. They do well under unfavorable conditions simply because they never do much of anything. They have low transpiration rates. grow slowly, and rarely bloom. We hoped to find some plants that were more responsive which could not only survive, but grow, bloom, and perhaps even pro-duce seeds within a limit of 4 months. Table 3 summarizes the results of some year-long tests on common garden and house plants, raised under the same conditions as the other species we have discussed so far.

Obviously, the common coleus seems to be the best all-around plant for classroom use. Although it is noted as blooming sporadically, once it starts blooming, it continues to bloom for weeks. Blooming seems to depend on several factors, which include the variety. the age of

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the plant, and possibly the day-length. Coleus flowers are self-pollinated and the ripe seed will germinate in two or three weeks. Rhoeo discolor (Moses-in-a-boat) is also self-fertile and produces viable seeds.

Without discussing curriculum uses of these plants at great length, it might be helpful to cite two instances of specific uses of living plants at two levels of teaching. The growth of young corn seedlings can be used to teach graphing and function in second grade; blooming Rboeo discolor will provide stamen hairs and microspore mother cells for college level cytological work.

We would like to acknowledge our debt to Dr. Harriet Creighton for the suggestion to use balsam and to Miss Genevieve Stoddard of the Zoology Department of the University of Minnesota, who grew Heavenly Blue morning glories in her office window for many a cold winter. Wayside Gardens, Mentor, Ohio, supplied many of the test bulbs. Many flower seeds came from the George W. Park Seed Co., Greenwood, South Carolina.

LITERATURE CITED

BAILEY. L. H. 1919. Manual of cultivated plants. Macmillan. New York.

POSTLETHWAIT. S. N.. AND N. J. ENOCHS. 196'. Tachyplants

—suited to instruction and research. Pl. Sci. Bull. 13(2) :1-5. REED. E. W., AND E. P. HILL. Using a greenhouse efficiently.

Amer. Biol. Teacher. In press.

REIDD_ F. W. 1966. Instant greenhouse. Turtox News t4:230-

231.

The Passing of a Great Scientist

Dever de Torok Carnegie-Mellon Universitj

Dr. Philip R. White died in Bombay, India, on March 25, 1968. With his passing the scientific world has lost an eminent researcher and, above all, a person with rare simplicity, sincerity, kindness, and charm. Philip R. White was 31 when he succeeded in growing excised root cultures at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, using seedling root tips of Ts'iticum as experimental material. In his pioneer research studies, White systematically varied organic and inorganic composition of the medium, H-ion concentration, volume, temperature, and light. By 1936 he was able to report the establishment of the continuous growth of excised root clones from the tip of a single radicle, having a mean linear growth rate of 5 mm. per day. His reports gave a tremendous impetus to similar undertakings. In 1931, White isolated callus tissue from the F, hybrid of Nicoticoic glauca and Nicotiana langsdorffii, which differentiated into stems and leaves in 1939. Thus, on December 30, 1938, White was able to report success in growing plant tissues without limitations, an objective first clearly formulated by Haberlandt who in-spired him. Historically these were the first plant tumor tissues to be cultured continuously on a chemically defined medium. Over the decades the field of plant tissue culture, which became a conquest in the hands of P. R. White, has experienced an accelerated rate of expansion all over the world and has opened new avenues of experimental manipulations leading to greater understanding and control of the mechanisms of growth and differentiation of plant cells.

His life-time research centered around a number of physiological and morphological problems. These ranged from classical studies devoted to the problems of root pressure to such transformation-tumor growth studies as the location of the bacteria-free transformed cells at a distance from the primary tumor. He demonstrated unrestrained independent growth activity in vitro and in grafts and he investigated the role of growth substances. White's studies encompassed general nutritional studies as well. To many he is best known for his experimental work on the influence of the ionic composition of inorganic salt mixtures upon growth and his evolving of a solution which is incorporated into the now famous "White's basic synthetic medium"; indefinitive tumor progression was unequivocally established on his chemically defined culture medium. His more recent research interest was devoted to a great extent to tissue culture studies on tumors of white spruce, a task I shared with him.

Dr. White received many honors in this country and abroad, some of which included the Annual Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1937), the Stephen Hales Award of the American Society of Plant Physiologists (1940), the Centenary Medal of the Societe Botanique de France (1954), and the Medal of Honor, University of Liege (1959). A long list of visiting professorships included his being a guest professor at Yale, an exchange professor at the University of Paris, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at The Pennsylvania State University. Over a hundred scholarly papers bear his name, and he has written and edited important books (e.g., A Handbook of Plant Tissue Culture, 1943; The Cultivation of Animal and Plant Cells, 1954; Proceedings of an International Conference on Plant Tissue Culture, 1965). He was a member of a number of learned societies which included the Tissue Culture Commission that subsequently became the Tissue Culture Association of which he was the President from 1956 to 1958. He organized the First Decennial Review Conference on Tissue Culture at Wood-stock, Vermont, October, 1956. In 1963, the monumental task of organizing an International Conference on Plant Tissue Culture at The Pennsylvania State University and editing its results was also accomplished by him. He maintained an outstandingly broad view of the unity of plant and animal cell cultures. Recently he spent three months on the Isle of Lesbos in Greece working on a book on Theophrastus, the first draft of which he finished. Last fall he went by invitation to India to give a lecture series on tissue culture at seven universities and two cancer research institutes.

Inexhaustible diligence, energy, and strong-will characterized his approach to solving problems: demonstrating this, there stands a house on Mt. Desert Island in Maine built by him in response to a suggestion that he would not be capable of erecting one. His experimental approach to everything was one of his biggest assets. His colleagues everywhere will remember and cherish his out-standing personal qualities, for despite his many honors he remained humble, quiet, and always cordial. He was an excellent speaker whose lectures were clear, authoritative, and to the point.

Over ten years ago I walked with Philip R. White on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean at Mt. Desert Island and discussed immortality. Said he, "The kind of immortality I believe is my work; and in particular I hope that some-body will continue to culture my tomato roots in which

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I shall continue to live." Before he reached retirement in 1966, 1 inherited some of the famous original root cultures after their 1726th passage, having been excised from the seedling on March I, 1.933, and promised him that I would continue to transfer them weekly. They are very much alive, Dr. White. Long may they continue!

Personal is

The Department of Botany, University of Massachusetts, announces the following appointments: Vernon Ahmadjian, formerly Professor of Botany at Clark University; will be Professor of Botany. He will continue his research on lichens and symbiosis and will teach a new course in these fields. His teaching will be directed to both graduate and undergraduate students and he will be involved in the introductory botany course. David W. Bierhorst will be appointed Professor of Botany. Dr. Bierhorst was Associate Professor of Botany at Cornell University. He will be responsible for setting up a sequence of study in plant morphology and will be teaching plant anatomy as well as introductory botany. His research interests have been in primary growth of plants, especially the xylary elements of ferns. Edward Klekowski, Jr., will be arriving from the University of California, Berkeley, where he has recently completed doctoral studies on experimental genetics of ferns. Appointed to an assistant professor-ship, he will be involved in genetics and pteridology teaching. David C. Mulcahy, formerly Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia, will be coming from Brook-haven National Laboratories where he has completed research on pollen tube competition. He will teach an ecology course in cooperation with zoologists and will be responsible for instruction in the flora of New England.

Doles de Torok. formerly at the Pennsylvania State University, became Professor of Biological Sciences at the Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh on July 1, 1968.

On July I, 1968, Professor Adriance S. Foster retired after 34 years as plant morphologist and anatomist in the Department of Botany. University of California, Berkeley. llis replacement is Donald R. Kaplan who will join the Berkeley department from the Department of Organismic Biology at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Kaplan's appointment began on July 1, 1968 as Assistant Professor of Botany. Dr. Melvin S. Fuller resigned from the Department of Botany at Berkeley to take a position as Head and Professor of Botany at the University of Georgia, Athens.

Donald A. Eggert, Department of Botany, University of Iowa, has been appointed Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. Professor Eggert will be teaching plant anatomy and will be involved in instruction in palcobotany and plant morphology at both graduate and undergraduate levels. It is his hope to make his new institution a center for research in Carboniferous paleobotany.

Askell 1.iivc, Chairman of the Department of Biology, University of Colorado, has been elected an honorary foreign member of the Czechoslovak Botanical Society in Prague. The election is the first honorary foreign membership awarded in the history of the society, one of the oldest of its kind.

The Jesse M. Greenman award for 1968, presented annually by the Alumni Association of the Missouri BotanicaI Garden for the best Ph.D. thesis paper in plant systematics published in a recognized professional journal during the previous year, has been awarded to Dr. Carl S. Keener, Assistant Professor of Botany at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Keener's award-winning paper is entitled. "A biosystematic study of Clematis subsection Integrifoliae (Ranunculaceae)." It appeared in the Jour-Intl of the F.li_rbt Alitchcll Scientific Society, spring 1967.

Milton R. Sommerfeld is joining the staff of the Department of Botany. Arizona State University, as Assistant Professor. Dr. Sommerfeld is coming from Washington University (St. Louis) where the completed his doctoral studies in phycology.

The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden announces the appointment of Dr. Jean-Pierre Simon to the positions of Geneticist and Experimental Systematist at the Garden and Assistant Professor of Botany at the Claremont Graduate School. Dr. Simon's major interests are in evolutionary biology.

Corresponding Member Harry Godwin, Professor, The Botany School. Cambridge University; will be retiring this year. Professor Godwin is an honorary member of several professional societies both in England and abroad. In 1964 he served as President of the X International Botanical Congress. Iie was awarded the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 1960. His research has centered on ecology, pollen analysis, and radiocarbon dating of plant remains. He established the Laboratory of Qua-ternary Research at The Botany School. Professor God-win will continue his research at Cambridge involving projects to update information on Quaternary plant fossils using new data retrieval systems and to revise his "History of the British Flora."

Thomas Maxwell Harris, Corresponding Member, will retire as Professor in the Department of Botany, University of Reading. Professor Harris has been elected to honorary membership in a number of professional societies and has been Vice-President of the Royal Society and President of the T.innean Society of London. In May, 1965, the was awarded the Linnean Society's Gold Medal. His research has been on Mesozoic gymnosperms and on the fossil flora of eastern Greenland. Professor Harris will continue his research on Mesozoic gymnosperms at the University of Reading and in the spring of 1969 he hopes to undertake a lecture tour in the United States. He will be replaced as Professor by Vernon Heywood, formerly of the Ilarticy Buranicrl Laboratories, University of Liverpool.

NEWS AND NOTES

American journal of Botany Reprints

The Aoreric-',u Jouarual of Britain has recently adopted a new policy of presenting each author of a published paper with 100 free reprints of his article.

Commemorative Botanical Stamps

Postmaster General W. Marvin Watson announced on August 8, 196$ the issuance of botanical stamps to corn-

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memorare the XI International Botanical Congress being held August 24 to September 2, 1969, at Seattle, Washington. At this writing the exact nature of the stamps is not known although it is hoped that the Post Office Department will follow the recommendations of the Commemorative Stamp Committee of the Botanical Congress to issue a series of four stamps representative of plants from the four quadrants of the continental United States [see Plana Science Bulletin 13 (3) : 2. 1967].

Coniferous Forest Symposium

The University of Montana will sponsor a regional symposium on the Coniferous Forest of the Northern Rocky Mountains between September 1S and 20. 1968. The symposium will consider questions of basic biology, man's uses, and human institutions affecting the use of coniferous species. Interested members of learned societies are welcome to attend the symposium and should write for further information to Dr. Richard D. Taber. School of Forestry, University of Montana. Missoula 59801.

New Graduate Program

The Biology Department at California State Polytechnic College, San Luis Obispo, has started a new Master of Science program in biology. Students wishing to concentrate in botany may choose a thesis in the areas of taxonomy, morphology. anatomy, plant physiology, ecology, algology, or plant pathology. The department will be moving into a new building to house all of the botanical personnel, a new herbarium. ecology laboratory, green-houses. and mycological collections. Also included are special physiological facilities and an electron microscope. For further information, write to Dr. Glenn Noble, department head, or to Dr. Robert J. Rodin.

Ford Foundation Grant

The Missouri Botanical Garden is the recipient of a 5120,-000, five-year, Ford Foundation Grant to train modern biophysical ecologists. The ultimate objective of the grant. said Dr. David M. Gates. garden director, is to pro-duce trained ecological specialists who can function as a vital parr of the dynamics of modern society.

Book Reviews

\VAnDt. AV. C. W. llnrpbn~eneri.t in Plants. A Con-temporary Study. Methuen & Co. I.td., London. 1968. 451 pages. 810.80.

'Fhis volume is a completely revised and enlarged version of \X';rdlavy's first 1952 edition. Those familiar with the earlier edition will note at once that nearly every chapter of this new volume contains the author's own contributions to the fields of morphogenesis and embryogenesis in which he is the acclaimed authority. Furthermore, the findings of other investigators have been carefully selected for inclusion in this new presentation.

The book is divided into fifteen chapters. The first is an introductory chapter dealing with the definition .and scope of rnorphoeenesis. morphogenesis in botanical science, an historical account, and the prospect of morphogenesis. Chapters two to four deal with new developments in morphogenesis and cmbryogenesis. including experimental studies. Chapters five to seven are concerned with the shoot apex, and here we see a full manifestation of the author's accumulated knowledge of this subject. Chapters eight to thirteen cover leaves and buds, phyllotaxis, the root system, differentiation of tissues, inflorescence, and the flower with a brief excursion into lower forms.

Every book reflects the personality of its author, and it is especially true of this volume. In chapter fourteen the author emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to plant morphology when lie says, "In sharp contrast to those who try to convince us that there is only one contemporary highroad in biology—that of molecular biology—the author would point out the simple and incontrovertible truth that, if you want to understand whole plants, i.e. intact organisms, sooner or later you must study whole-plant morphogenesis and whole-plant physiology." Chapter fifteen is devoted to his outlook on the broad subject of morphogenesis and its future.

"Morphogenesis in Plants" is a readable digest which is scientifically sound and a very creditable work. Edward S. A)cma

Di NN. ARNOLD, AND JosuPII AnuvrrI. Experimental Phg'.riolog1. A Taborator•y' Manutal in Cellrc_lar•. Ge-neral, and Plant Phi .riolo,cyr. Holt. Reinhart and Winston, New York. 1965. 312 pages. 87.95.

This manual is divided into ten chapters and has adequate coverage of classical matter with a strong emphasis on topics of more current research interest. Extensive and up-to-date references are included at the end of each chap-ter. More than half of the total of 51 experiments can be considered to belong to the realm of plant physiology. Of these. six require the use of labeled compounds. The plant physiological exercises are strongly weighted toward plant hormones and photomorphogenesis. A few of the experiments are suitable for elementary biology courses, but most are at a much higher level of sophistication.

Valuable appendices on radioisotopes, statistical analysis, pH. colorimctry, chromatography, manometry, centrifugation, polarography, and other techniques, are included. The "instructions for the instructors" sections on scheduling, preparation of reagents, construction of apparatus, and procurement of plant material, are complete in detail.

Joseph Scheibe

BRIGGS. F. N.. AND P. F. KNONLIa, Introduction to Plant Breeding. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York. 1967. 408 pages. 812.50.

This work is a well-organized, up-to-date text that is oriented to an introductory course in plant breeding- It should become popular in an advanced undergraduate course in the subject. The authors have successfully bridged the field of basic genetics and the principles and techniques of plant breeding. Also, two chapters on statistical techniques applicable to plant breeding introduce the student to statistics and its use in biological studies. The senior author's familiarity with the development of disease resistant crop varieties is used to good advantage throughout the book.

John A. Schillinger