PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

A Publication of the Botanical Society of America, Inc.

June 1973 Vol. 19 No. 2

Women in Botany   Beryl Simpson 22
The Audio-Tutorial Mistake Revisited   Elwood B. Ehrle 24
Planned Obsolescence? Opinion/Commentary   Rudolf Schmid 25
Mycological Nomenclature   26
Scientists from more than 20 Countries speak at Mexico City Meeting   26
Man's Need for Green    26
Botanical Potpourri      27
Personalia   27
Clement. Gray. Bowers, '1893-1973'   

Book Reviews   . .   .   28

Tree Structure and Function, Martin Zimmerman and Claud L. Brown
Phyloehenlical Ecology, J. B. Harborne (ed.)
Photosynthesis, Photorespiration, and Plant Productivity, Israel Zelitch
Ecology of Soil Fungi, D. M. Griffin

Methods of Enzymology, Volume -XXIII Photosynthesis, Part A.   . Anthony San Pietro (ed.)
Physiology and Biochemistry of Tobacco Plants, T. C. Tso
The Agave Family in Sonora, H. S. Gentry
The Diagnosis of Plant Diseases, R. B. Streets
The Biology and and Chemistry of the Umbelliferae

Women in Botany

Beryl Simpson
Department of Botany
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D. C.

I am woman. Hear me roar
in numbers too big to ignore.
and I know too mach to go back to pretending.
'Cause I'ue heard it all before
and I've been down there on the floor,
no one's ever gonna keep me down again.(¹)

I agree. No one can ignore the cry of women all over the country for equal opportunity to that of men in pursuing a career, and equal compensation and respect once they begin to practice it. Nor can anyone ignore the past discrimination against women in numerous professional and social situations. Articles listing examples of discrimination against women scientists and reporting court actions by women's groups have appeared in almost every general scientific journal. Soul searching articles on the role of the modern woman in society and the home currently constitute a major part of women's magazines. Here, instead of presenting another of these articles, I would simply like to give an idea about the present position of women in botany, show how it corresponds, in general, to the pattern of women in most professions, and, finally, give a few personal opinions.

Obtaining data on women in specialized fields is, at the present time, impossible. Although the AIBS is preparing a study of the distributions of people in various scientific "subfields", it is not yet complete. Consequently, in order to get some idea of the numbers of women in botany and something of their activities, I have used the Yearbook of the Botanical Society of America, 1971-1972. I am sure that by using only one source, I have left out many women and probably also included some peripheral individuals. However, the Botanical Society of America is larger and covers a broader range of interests than any, other botanical organization. It produces a journal technical enough presumably to appeal to only those people with a professional interest in botany.

Table 1 presents the results of the tabulation of the members in the Yearbook. The only basis for judging whether an individual was a woman was the name. In some cases it was difficult to tell whether the name applied to a man or a woman, but the mistakes in either direction hopefully cancelled each other out. Several figures in this table should be particularly noted. For example, 19% of the current non-student membership are women and 19% of the student members are women. Second, 13% of the women have joint memberships. Forty-one percent of the women members listed a professional title compared to 64% of the men. Either 59% of the women did not complete their degrees or feel that using a title is in poor taste. Likewise, only 56% of' the women listed a professional address whereas 91% of the men gave a business address. Although I am speculating, I think this figure means that those women who have their journals sent to their homes have no office or laboratory permanent enough, or with which they identify enough to receive mail. Even if one reads her journals at home (as I do), she knows that lists such as the Year-book are used by members of the scientific community to locate colleagues. Finally, it is noteworthy that :3% of the women members are nuns.

Let us now compare these figures with those of professional women in general. The first,- and encouraging, datum, is that the percentage of women with a professional interest in botany is higher than the average of doctorates granted in the natural sciences as a whole (19% is. 5.6% , or 7% vs. 5.6% if only the women with professional titles are considered, (2) ). Apparently, botany is a preferred area of the natural sciences for women. Margaret Mead, in her autobiography "Black-berry Winter" (3, p. 57) stated that when she tried to make clear to her grandmother (a mid-nineteenth century college graduate who had a major influence in her life) what she was doing, her grandmother was not pleased with her choice of careers — she thought that botany would have been better than savages. Perhaps this sentiment reflects that somehow botany seems more "feminine" than other sciences. These figures may be misleading. however. Packard (4, p. 99) stated that 25% of the mathematicians and biological scientists were women. If this is true, women would be underrepresented in botany compared to some other fields.

The large number of women with joint memberships corresponds to Austin's) 2) findings that women doctorates tend to marry men of comparable education and often men in closely related fields. Yet, her findings also showed that if a woman were married to a man in the same field, she was more likely to be unemployed than if she were married to a man in a different field. Unfortunately, because the addresses given in the cases of joint memberships are usually those of the husband, it is difficult to tell if these women are working.

The figures also indicate that there has not been a recent increase in the proportion of women entering botany. Lack of increase in the numbers of women students relative to men students agrees with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' figures which show that there has not been a rise in the percentage of college professors and instructors (the areas where most students in botany would probably seek jobs) since 1910. Actually, the percentage dropped after the 1930's. The decrease in women entering professions in the forties through the sixties is a general phenomenon. Vance Packard (4) mentioned this trend and Kate Millett (5) propounded a theory that there was a subconscious attempt to undermine the wave of women's liberation of the 1920's. A more realistic approach would combine a reaction to the era of the flapper and the sobering influence of World War II. Although there is no data on the ages of the botanists in the Yearbook, it subjectively seems to me that there is a bimodality in the ages of women botanists, with few women botanists who would have received degrees during the period of 1940-1960. Many noted women botanists began their careers in the 20's and :30's, but few after World War II. It should be noted that 8.9% of the women members are retired compared to 5.7% of the men.

Finally, the high percentage of nuns in botany de-serves some mention. Austin (2) listed characteristics of

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Table 1
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY 1W AMERICA *

 

		WOMEN	Percent Of Women		MEN	Percent Of Men
	Number	Percent Of Total
				Number	Percent Of Total
Member of the Botanical Society Member excluding	618	19		2579	81
joint memberships	538			2499
Student Memberships	68	19		29:3	81
Joint memberships Title listed	80		13	80		3.1
(Dr. or Prof.)	222		41	1605		64
Business address listed Nun or Priest	302		56	2266		91
("Sister" or "Father")	19		:3	8		0.3
Retired	48		8.9	143		5.7

women doctorates which were associated with discrimination in employment. Such characteristics included job mobility, husband's job, number of publications, children, etc. Only one characteristic, being a nun, showed a negative correlation with discrimination. Moreover, this factor showed a stronger correlation than any of the other characteristics. Several reasons probably lie behind this strong correlation. Nuns are encouraged to follow a profession, they are ensured a position, and they are not affected by many of the factors other women associated with discrimination such as children, job mobility, etc.

This last comparison brings me to the opinion part of this commentary. I think the figures show that women have been, and are, professionally interested in botany. In order to make the most of this interest, discrimination in training, hiring, and compensation must be eliminated. However, simply increasing the hiring and salaries of women will not drastically alter the present situation although it will certainly help. What is equally needed is a conscious effort to convince women that they can and should follow professional careers. Matina Horner (current President of Radcliffe College) conducted a study at Michigan entitled "Femininity and Successful Achievements: a Basic Inconsistency" which showed that the women she tested equated professional success with a loss of femininity — a loss which they were unwilling to incur. Most women who pursued careers felt that they had to make a compromise between losing their femininity and success, that they had to disguise their ability and that they must go to great lengths to avoid competition. Horner concluded that even if discrimination barriers were removed, fear of success would still deter most women.

This hesitancy of women does not mean that we can shrug our shoulders and say that women will not take ad-vantage of equal opportunities if they are offered; rather it means that we must also help to produce a needed sociological change. Despite the fact that about 50% of the currently contracted marriages will end in divorce (4) women are still made to feel that having and running a family are the most important things in a woman's life.

Since marriage can no longer be assumed to be one's lifelong occupation, women should be prepared to find a career early in life. Yet, women will and should continue to want marriage and a family. Ultimately, whether a woman continues a career or not will depend on the individuals in a marriage as well as the realization by employers that they need to encourage and help women with families. Harvard and Princeton have already modified regulations so as to ease the pressure on women with young children. However, their home environments must be equally liberal. No matter how much professional opportunity is present, if a woman feels guilty, tense, or simply physically exhausted because of not being quite able to manage all the things a woman has been conditioned to feel she must do, plus maintaining her career. she will probably finally abandon one of the parts of her life. Usually it is the professional part which suffers.

I can conclude only by saying that at the present time. the patterns and characteristics of' women in botany seem to be similar to those of professional women in general. To increase the percentages of women in the professions will require several things: the removal of the obvious hinderances of discrimination; a conscious effort to convince women that they are capable of pursuing a career without loosing the qualities of' being a woman, and a generation during which we will hopefully dispose of our current conditioning of men and women. The next few years will be a transition period, but I have no doubt that the change will occur- The increase in interested individuals and new ideas that this change will cause could not help but advance a profession.

1. I am woman. Copyright 1971, 1972 by Buggerlugs Music. Sung by Helen Reddy. Capitol Records.

2. Austin, H. S. The woman doctorate in America. Russell Sage Foundation, Hartford, Conn. (1969) 169 pp.

* Data compiled from the Yearbook of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. 1971-1972 . Miscellaneous Series. Publication 149. 144 pp. Percentages are calculated, except for the first two items, and the row for joint memberships, and nuns on the numbers of women or men excluding the joint memberships.

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3. Mead, M. Blackberry winter. My earlier years. William Morrow Co., N.Y. (1972) 351 pp.

4. Packard, V. The sexual wilderness. Pocket Book edition. New York. (1970) 529 pp.

5. Millett, K. Sexual politics. Sphere Books edition. Lon-don. (1971) 393 pp.

I thank S. Yankowski for help in preparing Table 1 and L. Eyde for suggesting material.

The Audio-Tutorial Mistake Revisited

Elwood B. Ehrle
Dean, School of Arts and Science
Mankato State College, Mankato, Mn.

In the January 15, 1970, issue of BioScience a short article appeared over my name entitled "Avoiding the Audio-Tutorial Mistake." By that time I was in the middle of my 3-year tenure with AIBS. I was traveling extensively in behalf of biological education, visiting many campuses across the country, observing a wide variety of A-T programs in operation, and becoming increasingly concerned about what I saw.

There were a number of fine AT programs in operation in 1970 as, I am sure, there are now. What concerned me in 1970 was the feeling that some people plunged into it prematurely and seemed to view it as a magic wand solving all manner of instructional ills.

As I put it in 1970:

It seems that every time an exciting new advance is made on the educational scene, a whole series of misuses follow in rapid order. One such advance was the introduction of the audio-tutorial method, the misuses of which might be dubbed "The Audio-Tutorial Mistake." Please understand that it is not A'I' that is being criticized here, but rather misuses of A-T. Similarly, one could speak of the BSCS mistake, the film-loop mistake, and several others. The problem is generic. It has its roots in seeking appal apparently simple solutions to very complex problems in response to the generally desirable recognition that "we've got to du something" to improve our courses.

The A']' mistake accrues from an invalid theorem: namely, that A-T solves all educational problems. There are at least two important corollaries not generally recognized by many practitioners in the field. Simply stated, these are: (l t A poorly conceived course taught by the A-T method is still a poorly conceived course. (2) A had lecture put on tape is still just a had lecture. The hope that a given arrangement of hardware is going to produce ipso loch) better teaching-learning situations is, alas, a false hope. The hope that getting one's stuff onto recording tape and movie film somehow improves it does not resolve the A-T mistake.

There seemed to be little awareness of the rapidly growing literature on A-T instruction, little attention to the development of simple, clear statements of the objectives faculty were hoping to encourage students to reach, and little operational reality to the strategically important principle that above all else A-T, when well conceived, frees the teacher for one-to-one teaching. What I saw on a number of campuses suggested that the old courses, some good, some not so good, were still unexamined as far as their philosophy and objectives were concerned, that these courses had been put into an A-T format with less than sufficient attention to the technological demands of that system of instruction. and worst of all that A-T was being used as the teacher rather than as a device to free the teacher. Hence my clubbing the result, the Audio-Tutorial Mistake.

I have been brooding over that brief article ever since it appeared. It occurs to me now that the A-T mistake may run deeper than I had previously thought. The mistake may be not only in the magic wand thinking which asserts that a particular technique converts inappropriate content into appropriate, but also in the conviction that any particular set of content is best for any given student coming down the track. If A-T allows flexibility only in pacing and emphasis it probably isn't worth the tremendous investment of time, money, and expertise required to make it go.

The real advantage of A-T may not lie in its self-pacing dimensions but rather in the fact that it makes it feasible for every student to select a different pathway through the subject matter or indeed, a different set of subject matter.

The missing piece in 1970 may have been the development of numerous semi-autonomous modules or mini-courses presented in the A-T mode. The modularization of instruction was in its infancy. It still is. In 1971, CUEBS published (Pub]. 31) its valuable book on "The Use of Modules in College Biology Teaching." It then became apparent that modularization required a multi-mediated instructional technique.

Imagine, if you will, a modularized A-T course in which a student is guided and self-selects his own path-way through the subject matter. If he is interested in population problems he pursued modules 1, 2, 7, 8, 12, etc. If he is interested in environmental problems he uses 1, 3, 6, 9, 1I, etc. If he is concerned about racial problems the sequence might be 1, 4, 5, 7, 13, etc. To learn about evolution he might be led to pursue a different set of modules. The point is that a modularized A-T program makes it possible for him to choose among a variety of options each of which will ensure that he is learning good solid biology. With Cassette tapes and players a whole module can be set up in it shoe box. There can be pre-tests, tapes, directions for experiments, guidelines for investigations, reading lists, Kodachrome or microscope slide sets, film loops—the whole works in a shoe box to be selected or ignored according to each student's interest.

It may be unfair to pin the label A-T Mistake on one track teaching-learning. The mistake is a lot older than A-T. Many who have proceeded via a lecture-discussionlaboratory technique have presented only one track for a student to follow for awhile and abandon evermore. For many years this may have been necessary. Alternative ways of teaching had not yet been invented. Now with the advent of A-T and modularization it is possible, perhaps for the first time, to get off the single track, present a variety of options and really engage the student where his interests are.

To use A-T or modularization toward some other end would, in my opinion, be a mistake. That this mistake is being made, I am sure. I am equally sure that it can be overcome. As of old, it will take good teachers to make the difference. To those already into A-T modularization, I wish God's speed. To those who are onto one or the other, I invite consideration of an instructional strategy combining the best features of both. To those not vet into a re-

25

examination of the content, intent, and modus operandi of biological education, I extend an invitation. It's an ex-citing and intellectually demanding pursuit requiring the finest minds and highest commitment we, as biologists, can muster. Ourselves, our colleagues, and our students will be the better for it. We can all learn from the mistakes of the past and as A-T modularization becomes more common, hopefully, we can avoid building these past mistakes into our future promises.

OPINION/COMMENTAR Y

Planned Obsolescence?

It is an old adage that textbooks are out-of-date the moment they are published. One thus looks forward to new editions of texts, especially those that had won some degree of acclaim, in the hope that a good product has been made even better. It is obviously difficult to state with precision when a new edition is warranted. In some of the rapidly expanding fields where the functional half-life of knowledge has been estimated to be five years or less, frequent new editions are clearly desirable. However, in most fields, including those loosely labelled "classical", the expansion of knowledge is more arithmetic than geometric. In these areas, therefore, one greets with some scepticism the appearance of a new edition only one, two, or even four or five years after a previous edition. One sadly suspects that the concept of planned obsolescence, so widespread in such consumer goods as automobiles and fashions, has finally also gained considerable application in book publishing.

Planned obsolescence in book publishing takes two main forms: (1) semi-new editions, where an old edition is only slightly revised, and (2) pseudo-new editions, where an old edition masquerades as a new one by means of simpie deception, for example, a new cover and/or dust jacket, or the more insidious practice of putting the date of a new printing on the title page and hiding the actual date of copyright on the verso of the title page.

 

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

ROBERT W. LONG, Editor Life Science Bldg. 174 University of South Florida Tampa, Florida 33620

EDITORIAL BOARD Elwood B. Ehrle, Mankato State College Adolph Hecht, Washington State University Donald R. Kaplan, University of California (Berkeley) Erich Steiner, University of Michigan Beryl Simpson, Smithsonian Institutuin

June 1973      Volume Nineteen     Number Two

Changes of Address: Notify the Treasurer of the Botanical Society of America, Inc., Dr. C. Ritchie Bell, Department of Botany, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 26514.

Subscriptions for libraries and persons not members of the Botanical Society of America are obtainable at the rate of $4.00 a year. Send orders with checks payable to "Botanical Society of America, Inc." to the Treasurer.

Material submitted for publication should be type-written double-spaced, and sent in duplicate to the Editor. Copy should follow the style of recent issues of the Bulletin.

Microfilms of Plant Science Bulletin are available from University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.

The Plant Science Bulletin is published quarterly at the University of South Florida, 4202 Fowler Ave., Tampa, Fla. 33620. Second class postage paid at Tampa, Florida.

All new editions obviously are not examples of planned obsolescence. Nevertheless, this does seem to be increasingly the vogue today, although the problem no doubt has existed to some extent since the time of Gutenberg. The recent new (second) editions of the textbooks by Faegri and van der Pijl' on pollination ecology and by van der Pijl' on dispersal ecology illustrate this trend, although the following could be cited as even more flagrant examples of planned obsolescence (edition dates indicated in parentheses): Bell and Woodcock's The Diversity of Green Plants (1968, 1971); Parihar's An Introduction to Embryophyta, Vol. 1, Bryophyta (1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1965), and Vol. 2, Pteridophytes (1955, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1965); and Sporne's The Morphology of Pteridophytes (1962, 1966, 1970).

Since the two companion volumes on reproductive ecology under consideration here are well-known and have met with general acclaim, I shall restrict my remarks to the changes involved in the second editions of these books. Neither book, alas, represents an extensive revision. Although the type was completely reset in the new editions, many portions are identical to those of the old. Additions and revisions are mostly minor and consist mainly of adding or rearranging words, phrases, or sometimes sentences in paragraphs borrowed from the first editions, or occasionally even of intercalating a new paragraph or two. The new editions contain not only the same chapters and major sections as did their respective earlier editions but also essentially the same figures and tables (two additional figures in the new pollination book; one additional table, giving the syndrome of chiropterochory, in the new dispersal work).

On first appearance the new edition of the pollination book seems quite different from its 1966 edition: The second edition is fatter, with some 46 extra pages, and it has a more colorful dust jacket, with two dynamic (though quite grainy) photographs of pollinating bees. The apparent expansion of edition two, however, is a fa, ade since edition one not only has smaller type but also some 19% more printed matter per page (113 x 190 mm of text vs. 110 x 164 mm in edition two). The long chapter on pollination in the flowering plants received the most revision. Other chapters, including the pedagogically very valuable one giving 49 case histories illustrating pollination types, are nearly identical in both editions. A page on "Other substances as attractants" and the case histories of Pedicularis groenlandica and P. lanceolate represent the only completely new sections. The eight-page section on orchids was logically deleted in view of van der Pijl and Dodson's excellent Orchid Flowers: Their Pollination and Evolution (1966). Most of the diagrams are reduced in size in the second edition, some up to 50% compared to the earlier edition, In many cases the diagrams suffered a concomitant loss of clarity, a condition aggravated, in my copy at least, by too heavy inking of the plates. The table of contents of the second edition was expanded by listing all the sections and subsections, which unfortunately continue to be confusingly coded as

1' I Faegri, K., and L. van der Pijl. The Pr'wctples of Pollination Ecology. 2nd Edition. Perganum Press, Oxford, New Fork, etc_ 1971. xii, 291 pp., illus. $14.00. [1st edition 1966.j

I') van der L. Principles of Dispersal in Higher Plants. 2nd Edition. Springer-Veriag, New Turk, Heidelberg, l3erlia. 1972. xi, slit, I 1] pp., illus. $12.60. 11st edition 1969.1

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in the first edition (e.g., section "5.5.3.1.4" on ants us. "5.5.3.2.2" on bats).

On initial appearance the new edition of van der Pijl's slim tome on dispersal ecology seems very similar to the 1969 edition, and it is—a conclusion reinforced by the nearly identical dust jackets, binding, size, and layout of the two editions. The new edition is only twelve pages longer, but since eight pages result from expanded preliminaries, bibliography, and indices, the additional text is only four pages. The net addition in text in edition two, however, is actually about eight pages 'since each page contains an extra line of print as well as lines that are 7 mm wider as compared to edition one. The section on "Island Floras", with seven entirely new (but short) paragraphs out of a total of twenty, is the most drastically revised part of the book. Considerable editing has largely eliminated the numerous grammatical and stylistic ambiguities that plagued the first edition and made it especially difficult to read. The editing, however, has not otherwise appreciably altered the author's very distinctive style, which is anything but Hemingwayian!

The semi-new editions of these excellent works are in-deed improved products, and anyone lacking a copy of either the pollination or dispersal book will naturally want the superior second edition, despite the exorbitant price. Both works, however, contain such distressingly little new factual information that one wonders whether new editions were really warranted. At least the dispersal book was considerably upgraded from a grammatical and stylistic viewpoint, but one laments that this had to be done after the first edition and not before. Since the new editions of both works are only slightly better than the earlier models, and since publishers do not accept trade-ins toward new models, many persons and institutions on limited budgets will find their old models of these books sufficiently functional to justify postponing purchase of the new model until the inevitable newer model appears a few years hence. Since publishers increasingly are resorting to planned obsolescence to capitalize on sales to a captive audience of libraries and students, it seems prospective publishers of new editions of textbooks must now pay heed to one of the time-honored watchwords of the marketplace: caveat emptorj

Rudolf Schmid
Department of Botany
University of California, Berkeley

Mycological Nomenclature

Mycologists and lichenologists should note that a standing Nomenclature Committee has been established by the International Mycological Association to study specific problems in the application of the Code of Nomenclature to fungi (including lichen-forming species), and to propose changes in the Code at the 1975 Botanical Congress. Actively interested persons are encouraged to serve on one or more Special Committees, each devoted to study of a specific problem. Five areas of concern have already been identified at the First International Mycological Congress in Exeter in 1971; these Special Committees are being organized now, and mycologists willing to serve on these Committees should notify the Nomenclature Secretariat as soon as possible so that they may be appointed as members:

(1) Revision of Art. 59 on pleomorphic fungi; (2) Designation of living materials as types in fungi; (3)

Registry of new names and of proposals for conservation; (4) Unification of starting-point dates and problems of overlap of groups with different starting dates; (5) Provision for handling infraspecific taxa not now covered by the Code. Other problems that deserve study should be brought to the attention of the Secretariat, which may then establish additional Committees to study such problems.

Mycologists may correspond with any member of the Secretariat for further information, or to contribute opinions on any problems of nomenclature. Those desiring to propose their names for membership on Special Committees should notify the Chairman of the Secretariat.

LĪV%A, Nomenclature Committee Secretariat:

R. P. Korf (Chairman), Plant Pathology Herbarium, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850, USA

D. L. Hau,ksworth, Commonwealth Mycological Institute,

Ferry Lane, Kew, Surrey TW9 :3AF, England

G. L. Hennebert, Lab. Mycologie Syst. et Appl., U.C.L.,

Pare d'Arenberg, B-:3030 Heverlee, Belgium

Z. Pouzar, Botanical Institute, Academy of Sciences, 252 43 Pruhonice near Praha, Czechoslovakia

D. P. Rogers, Department of Botany, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

L. K. Weresub, Plant Research Institute, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Scientists from more than
20 countries to speak
at Mexico City meeting

In the belief that science is of overriding importance in the world today, and that, being universal, it transcends national boundaries, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Consejo National de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) of Mexico have undertaken jointly to sponsor an inter-American scientific meeting thought to be the first of its kind. During a two-week period (20 June-4 July 1973) in Mexico City, upwards of 5,000 scientists, engineers, government officials, representatives of business and industry, science journalists, students, educators, and laymen from many countries will deliberate a wide range of subjects.

"Science and Man in the Americas" is designed to show how science and technology impinge on society at large. Objectives of the meeting are to present, in full public view, topics central to the future development and well-being of the western hemisphere; to communicate the conclusions of these discussions widely; and to generate, especially among young people, a dedication to improve the conditions of life in the Americas.

The conference is intended to join the interests and talents of scientists, engineers and laymen from the academic sector, from business and industry, and from government in stimulating and innovative ways with the expectation that knowledge exchanged and relationships established will be of significant long-term benefit to individuals and to nations.

Man's Need For Green

Are human beings "genetically programmed" to require warm humid air and growing green plants and the

27

presence of warm-blooded animals in order to lead full and satisfying lives? Many authorities in the anthropological, sociological and medical sciences have come to answer that question with an emphatic yes.

Now the American Nurseryman reports that the Horticultural Research Institute is involved in supervising and supporting authoritative research into the subject. The findings should be of importance to the nursery industry as well as to the entire area of environmental concern. The project is under the direction of Dr. Hugh Ells, taxonomist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Dr. Iltis explains the rationale behind his research in this way: "Man, the animal, evolved in nature among plants, shrubs, trees, flowers and fruits, in a seasonal climate in which the living ecosystem was an integral part of his most basic being and functioning. Thus, civilized man needs these facets of the environment not as luxuries and amenities but as absolute and inalienable rights of his biological body." The theory, while not proved or disproved in the past, has generated much interest in the scientific community.

A major objective of the HRI study is to develop an annotated and interrelated bibliography on man's needs for nature, starting with folklore and literature and continuing into medical, psychological and sociological works and research.

Botanical Potpourri

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT TAXONOMISTS (ASPT) is pleased to announce formation of a new Section for American Systematic Collections (SASC). The purpose of the SASC is to provide a forum and mechanism for consideration of problems of support, development, safety, and exploitation of the botanical collections resources upon which the science of plant taxanomy and its ancillary fields depend. Several studies have forcefully set forth the need for action to bolster our resource collections and make more adequate provision for their future preservation and availability, but action demands a body of concerned, industrious per-sons involved with the use, curation, and maintenance of collections. The SASC is such a body. The larger and more representative it becomes, the more adequate will be consideration of all prospects and problems, and the stronger will be its voice.

Membership in the SASC is open to all without charge. You do not need to be a member of the ASPT to join, although there are advantages to this affiliation, such as expected publication of items of general interest to the Section in Brittonia, the official organ of ASPT.

If you have a stake in the future of collections and collections-related resources, if you want to have a say in developing better support for and recognition of the problems of collections, if you wish to have the ready sup-port of your colleagues for problems of your own, please join in the work of this Section. Send your address to: Dr. Willard W. Payne, Chairman of the Executive Board, ASPT-Section for American Systematic Collections, Department of Botany, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 61801.

FIELD BIOLOGY ON NANTUCKET ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS; Two courses in field biology will be offered at the University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station this summer. The first, Biology 550, will be held in early summer (June 4 through July 13, 1973) and is designed for advanced students with previous experience in field work. This course is run on an individual research project basis.

The second course, Biology 500, is offered in late summer (July 16 through August 24) and is intended for students with no previous field experience. Students and staff participate in lectures, field trips and seminars. Students plan and carry out individual ecological projects and are required to write a paper summarizing their results.

Admission to both courses depends on the recept of an acceptable project proposal.

Interested persons should contact Dr. Wesley N. Tiffney, Jr., Biology Dept., University of Massachusetts/Boston, 100 Arlington St., Boston, Mass. 02116. (After June 1, P. O. Box 756, Nantucket, Mass. 02554.)

THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STRATIGRAPHIC PALYNOLOGISTS will be held at the Grand Hotel, Anaheim, California, U.S.A. from October 16 to 20. October 16 will be devoted to a Forum on Dinoflagellates, which will be organized by Dr. W. R. Evitt. The forum is intended to serve for the exchange of information on problems of dinoflagellate identification, classification, stratigraphic ranges, paleoecology, and geographic distribution. There will be handout charts, a panel discussion by invited specialists, topical presentations, and discussion of questions of general interest submitted by the membership. Technical sessions will be held from October 17-19. A half-day field trip is scheduled to San Diego on the afternoon of October 18 to contrast the turbidite deposits of the Rosario Formation (Upper Cretaceous) with the shallow marine deposits of the Del Mar Formation (Eocene). A full-clay field trip to Sequoia National Park will depart from Anaheim on the evening of October 19. This trip will focus on the ecology of the "Big Tree", Sequoiadendron giganteum. A demonstration of the computerized retrieval of palynomorphs according to stratigraphic, taxonomic, and geographic parameters will be held during the evening of October 18. Additional details are available from Dr. K. M. Piel, Union Oil Research Center, Brea, California 92621, U.S.A.

JOINT MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PHARMACOGNOSY AND THE PHARMACOGNOSY AND NATURAL PRODUCTS SECTION OF THE ACADEMY OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, will be held at the Atlantic Carriage Inn, Jekyll Island, Georgia, July 15-20, 1973. The SYMPOSIUM: "BIOTRANSFORMATIONS AND FERMENTATIONS". Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings will be devoted to a symposium. The speakers will include Dr. Oldrich Sebek (The Upjohn Co.)—Microbial Transformations of Antibiotics; Dr. Donald Brannon (Eli Lilly & Co.)—Microbial Production of Pharmacologically Active Compounds Other Than Antibiotics; Dr. Arnold Demain (Mass. Institute of Tech.)—Biochemistry of Penicillin and Cephalosporin Fermentations; Dr. Brian Ellis (Trent Univ.)—Degradation of Aromatic Compounds in Plants; Dr. Warren Steck (Nat'l Res. Council of Canada)—Biotransformations in Plant Tissue Cultures.

Personalia

Dr. William K. Purees, Chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has accepted an appointment as Executive Officer of the Biological Sciences Group at the University of Connecticut. The appointment is effective August 15, 1973.

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The Biology Department at Yale wishes to announce the following botanical appointments and promotions. Professor Margaret B. Daccis of the University of Michigan has been al.. ointed Professor in the field of Plant Ecology; Joseph S. Ramu.s, an algal cell biologist, has been promoted to Associate Professor and James E. Rod-man of Harvard University has been appointed Assistant Professor in the area of Plant Systematics.

CLEMENT GRAY BOWERS 1893-1973

Clement Gray Bowers, eminent plant scientist, author and hybridizer of note, died on April 12. A native of Binghamton, New York, Dr. Bowers was considered one of the world's leading authorities on rhododendrons. In 1960 he received the Jackson Dawson Medal, an honorary award given by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. At that time his book, Rhododendrons and Azaleas (1936, second edition 1960) was cited as "one of the true classics of garden literature."

Dr. Bowers received B.S. and M.S. degrees at Cornell University in 1923 and 1925 and a Ph.D. in botany from Columbia University in 1930. His doctoral research was based on cytological studies in the genus Rhododendron.. His early research in genetics, cytology and plant sterility was carried on at the New York Botanical Garden. Dr. Bowers later pursued an in-dependent career in plant breeding and as a horticultural consultant and lecturer. He discovered the origin of viscin strands in some plant pollens and developed new techniques in plant hybridization.

His interest in education continued and led him to serve as a lecturer in botany at State University of New York units at Syracuse and Binghamton, New York. In 1948 he was appointed a research associate in ornamental horticulture at Cornell University. He was active until his death as a member of the Cornell Plantations Faculty Committee and as a Sponsor of the Cornell Plantations, the arboretum-natural areas enterprise of Cornell University.

He was a founder of Pi Alpha Xi, national collegiate honor society in floriculture, and of the Men's Garden Club of Broome County. He was a member of many professional societies, including fellowships in the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Botanical Society of America. He was a charter member of the American Horticultural Council and of the American Rhododendron Society and contributed to the long-range planning of many horticultural organizations.

On the international scene, Dr. Bowers served as vice-chairman of the section on plant breeding methods and as director of floriculture exhibits for the Sixth International Congress of Genetics in 1932. In 1949 in London, he was presented to Queen Mother Elizabeth as an "outstanding American scientist." He was also a member of the International Committee for Horticultural Nomenclature from 1952 to 1955.

Book Reviews

ZIMMERMAN, MARTIN H., and CLAUD L. BROWN, with Melvin T. Tyree. Tree Structure and Function. Springer-Verlag, New York, Heidelberg, Berlin. 1971. xii + 336 pages.

This is a book about the relationships between structure and function — between anatomy and morphology and physiology — as these interact within the framework of woody plants called trees. Because of the specialized nature of the several subjects discussed, each author has written about the discipline he knows best, and each chapter is a separate essay, with its own bibliography, adequately cross-referenced to other sections. Claud L. Brown writes on primary and secondary growth, and growth and form; Martin H. Zimmerman discusses transport in xylem and phloem, and the storage, mobilization, and circulation of assimilates. Zimmerman and Brown have enlisted the aid of Melvin T. Tyree to write the chapter concerning the steady state thermodynamics of translocation in plants. Useful author and subject indices complete the text.

Appearing as it does, some I() years after Kramer and Kozlowski's Physiology of Trees, the present volume hopefully will establish a trend in the publication of compendia on the physiological and structural phenomena which occur in woody plants. By comparison with our knowledge of these phenomena in herbaceous plants, there is a real paucity of data on woody plants. One excellent way to point out what is known about woody plant physiology, and perhaps more importantly, what is not known, is through such interpretative discussions as appear in the Zimmerman and Brown volume. Within the limitations of publication, these authors have performed a service to the scientific community, and especially to those plant scientists with particular interest in the growth of woody plants, in the tradition of Busgen and Munch who wrote on The Structure and Life of Forest Trees in 1929.

Unlike Kramer and Kozlowski, our authors have concentrated on the biological activities which take place within the tree and they emphasize the influence of these activities on the growth and external morphology of these plants. Kramer and Kozlowski have emphasized more the environmental aspects of tree physiology and especially the reactions of tree species to differing environmental conditions. As such these two books complement one another very profitably.

Because there is more known about the physiology and structure of trees of the north temperate zone, there is a greater concentration in this volume on such plants. Busgen and Munch neglected trees of tropical regions almost entirely, but fortunately Zimmerman and Brown do consider physiological and structural phenomena of tropical trees. In the chapter on growth and form, however, one might have hoped for a discussion of the unique architecture and growing patterns of some tropical trees along the lines developed by Francis Halle. Even though now there is considerable information about apical meristems and primary differentiation is arborescent monocotyledons — these are tree-like, after all — the reader is merely referred to the studies of Tomlin-son and Zimmermann. Similarly, cursory reference only is made to the secondary growth which occurs in some tropical arborescent monocotyledons. There is a

29

discussion, happily, of the path of water movement in the stems of these arborescent monocotyledons coupled with a description of their unique vasculature, and there are good sections on the organization of the phloem in these tropical plants.

The text is generally well written and understandable but there appears to be an unusual number of typographical errors and editorial inconsistencies. There are also several grammatically questionable sentences which should be changed. For example, at the top of page 42, we read: "The periodicity of radial growth and growth ring formation in tropical trees and its [their?] correlation with primary growth is [are?] even less [more!] poorly understood." And on the top of page 160, "Light quality, i.e. the various wave lengths of light, have [has!] been shown to effect [affect?] these same morphogenetic processes quantitatively." Many times verbs do not agree with their subjects in number. For example, middle of page 148: "The most plausible explanation is that the sensitivity of cells in different tissues differ [s!]. . .'; bottom of page 42: "... temperature and soil moisture is [are!]. . ."; and at the beginning of first complete paragraph on page 239: "When the innermost layer of the phloem, containing the functioning sieve tubes, are [is!] severed..." In the table on page 195 measurements for the tracheids of conifers are listed under the column headed, "Vessel [!] diameter, in microns." A thorough re-editing would be very helpful.

It is high time that such organisms as trees were treated in the scientific literature to an extent commensurate with their biological importance. With the current-day emphasis on the living components of our environment — and trees form an inestimably significant segment of the biosphere in many parts of the world — Zimmermann and Brown's excellent volume contributes appreciably to a much neglected aspect of tree study: structure and function.

William Louis Stern University of Maryland, College Park

HARBORNE, J. B. ed. Phytochemical Ecology. Academic

Press, New York, N. Y. 1972. 272 pp. $14.00.

This book is the eighth in a series of the Annual Proceedings of the Phytochemical Society. This volume emphasizes the interactions between plants and animals with three chapters devoted to plant interactions with other plants. Most of the papers are concerned with how various natural plant metabolites e.g., alkaloids affect, in varying ways, the association of particular plants with particular animals.

Miriam Rothschild reviews the recent work with aposematic (warningly colored) butterflies and other in-sects. Both the benefits to the animals which store toxic compounds and the benefits to the toxic plant host are discussed. Papers by J. M. Cherrett on leaf-cutting ants and H. F. Van Embden on aphids are related to experiments attempting to determine why particular plants are selected as food sources by these insects over other plants. Both papers present experimental data which reveals that for the ants it may be more a case of leaf repellants than leaf attractants which is the regulating factor while for the aphids both nutrients and secondary metabolites appear to be involved with a major role being played by amino acids.

Chapters by E. C. Bate-Smith on the types of compounds that are responsible for flavor and T. A. Rohan on the biochemistry of flavor are reviews of current theories on this attribute as a factor in plant-animal interactions. Together these chapters relate the difficulties of research in this area and how various chemicals are undoubtedly the reason why some plants are avoided in preference to others even though there is variation among animals as to whether particular plants taste bad. A chapter by G. W. Arnold and J. L. Hill is specifically concerned with the chemical factors which play a role in food selection by ruminants. This chapter relates well with the previous two since it presents experimental data on attempts to determine the types of chemical compounds which repel grazing animals.

Cyanogenic glycosides are discussed by D. A. Jones, who presents the biochemistry of cyanogenesis and the possible roles of these compounds as repellants. He also discusses the ecological genetics of cyanogenesis. The chapter by M. O. Moss on aflatoxin and other mycotoxins brings the importance of secondary metabolites somewhat closer to man than some of the previous studies in this book. The history of aflatoxin discovery and the species of fungi which are presently known to synthesize these toxins are discussed. Selenium toxicity is reviewed by A. Shrift. In this chapter the biochemistry of selenium assimilation is detailed and biochemical evidence that selenium replacement of sulfur in proteins accounts for the toxicity of this metal. Toxic amino acids, their discovery and activity as antimetabolites, in the Leguminosae is reviewed by E. A. Bell. He also discusses their possible function in the plants which synthesize them. A. R. Mattocks reviews the pyrrolizidine alkaloids as a group of poisonous compounds. The toxic effects are discussed on a gross level and on a chemical level which reveals that pyrrole formed from alkaloids is the toxic agent.

The last three chapters deal with how plants affect other plants by the types of chemicals they produce. C. H. Miller and C. H. Chou discuss phytotoxins especially their role in controlling plant growth. Examples of air-borne toxins and water-borne toxins are reviewed. The authors point out that the study of phytotoxins is more easily approached as an ecological phenomenon and when one attempts to understand the chemical nature of the toxicity it becomes very difficult to assign the toxicity to specific chemicals considering the very common occurence of many of these chemicals in the soil. Phytoalexins, compounds which "ward-off" infection by fungi and bacteria re reviewed by B. J. Deverall. In this paper the author reviews the concept of phytoalexins and the types of chemicals which produce inhibitory effects. Also discussed is the author's work with chocolate spot disease of Vicia fabae and anthranose of bean plants and the role of phytoalexins in preventing infection by the causative agents. W. G. H. Edwards discusses Orobanche and other plant parasites with regard to the importance of chemical stimulants of germination. There is also some discussion of the probable hormonal nature of the continuation of parasite seedling growth and later attachment to the host.

In summary, this book is recommended for
phytochemists who are especially interested in the
possible functions of the great variety of so-called secon-
dary metabolites found in plants. The book is well in-
dexed by author, subject, and plant and animal species.
Philip C. Bibb
Wellesley College

ZELITCH, ISRAEL. Photosynthesis, Photor-aspiration, and Plant Productivity. Academic Press, New York. 1971. 347 pp. $15.00

Seldom has there been available a book which reviews research from the areas of photochemistry and biochemistry of photosynthesis through the related leaf cell morphology and the overall control of net carbon assimilation in crops. This book treats these subjects and introduces a wide variety of topics in the general areas associated with photosynthesis of plant productivity. It begins with a discussion of plant cell morphology and

30

chloroplast structure, then proceeds to a very brief coverage of the light reaction followed by a chapter on carbon dioxide fixation. The emphasis of the book comes with the chapters on respiration, photorespiration and glycolate metabolism which make up nearly one third of the total number of pages. This emphasis is not unwarranted since it is one of the author's research areas and a very important segment of photosynthesis research in the past ten years. The final section of the book deals with photosynthesis, its control in single leaves and control (both environmental and physiological) of total productivity in stands. Since the book comprises less than :300 pages it necessitates a rather brief coverage of most topics. For this reason it may be of less interest to research workers in these areas but very useful for teachers and advanced students in plant physiology, agronomy, and horticulture. Zelitch has freely provided original graphs and tables along with 37 pages of references. It should make an excellent text for an advanced course in the area of plants productivity or as a supplement to plant physiology courses. The reader should however be aware thktt the author weighed the discussion of photorespiration in the direction of his ideas and perhaps another review of this subject should be consulted for balance.   Donald Miles

University of Missouri GRIFFIN, D. M. Ecology of Soil Fungi. Syracuse Univ.

Press, Syracuse, N.Y. 1972. 19:3 pp. $9.95.

Prospective readers of this book are referred to the Preface, where the author identifies his intended audience as "senior undergraduates and graduate students in the earlier years of their research." I believe he achieves his purpose and such readers should find the book very worthwhile.

The text is written in a somewhat informal style which this reviewer found most agreeable. The language is uniformly clear and unambiguous. More advanced students, or those seeking a minutely detailed treatment of this vast and burgeoning subject, are advised to look elsewhere. The author provides an excellent picture of the "skeleton" of the ecology of soil fungi and leaves the reader the option of fleshing the skeleton out with the list of references. The references are carefully selected for the benefit of those desiring additional details on specific subjects.

Part One of this book deals with the "General ecology of soil fungi." This section is sparse in detail but it is logical and comprehensive in organization. The author displays some refreshing candor in this section through occasional challenges of traditional dogma and admission of general absence of knowledge of certain aspects of the subject. His identification of problem areas should prove stimulating to many readers.

Part Two of the book deals with the "Physical ecology of soil fungi." The author may have over-stepped his mark somewhat here as beginning students may not be adequately prepared for the physics and mathematics used in the presentation of some of the physical concepts. However, this should not be considered to be either a criticism or a shortcoming of the book. The serious student will recognize this as material which he can and should master and established workers will welcome it as one of the few authoritative treatments of this largely neglected but critical aspect of fungal ecology.

In summary, this book provides an excellent perspective of a very complex subject. The content and style of presentation are particularly well-designed to inform the novice and should provide a strong stimulus for further study. This book is highly recommended to its in-tended audience.   David Hubbell

Univ. of Florida SAN PIETRO, ANTHONY (ed.). Methods in En-

zymology: Volume XXIII - Photosynthesis, Part A.

Academic Press, New York 1971, 743 pp. $29.50

The aim of this volume is to provide a comprehensive coverage of the biochemical, biophysical, genetic, and physiological aspects of photosynthesis and the methodological approaches which have been derived for each. In both respects this volume succeeds very well. The presentations in this particular volume, which is Part A of a two-part series, considers isolation and culture techniques of algae, bacteria, and diatoms; plant tissue culture; preparation and properties of mutants; cellular and sub-cellular preparations from photosynthetic organisms and finally the purification and properties of the components of the photosynthetic systems.

There are a total of 69 articles incorporated into this volume. In Section I, "Isolation and Culture Techniques" there are two articles on enrichment techniques, five on synchronous cultures, and one each on tissue culture and large-scale growth of algae. Section II includes six articles on the "Preparation and Properties of Mutants." In Section III on the "Cellular and Subcellular Preparation" there are 17 pakiers which cover such subjects as: chloroplasts and grana, chromatophores, subchloroplast fragments and subchromatophore fragments. Section IV on "Components" comprises over half of the volume. In this section there are :37 articles covering a vast range of subjects e.g. cytochromes, nitrate reductase, acyl lipids, ribulose diphosphate carboxylase, carotenoproteins and leaf peroxisomes.

In each of the articles in this volume the methods of preparation and experimentation are described in great and careful detail. Each procedure and technique is discussed thoroughly and in many cases more than one procedure is given for the same isolation or reaction. Each article also uses citations and references quite freely so that the reader can have at his disposal a rather complete bibliography related to each of the individual contributions. Another excellent feature of this work is the extensive usage of illustrative material such as tables and graphs. In this way the author can present his techniques and results in such a manner as to permit the reader to follow the procedures with some degree of confidence that his own experimental procedures are being done properly.

This volume should be of great asset to anyone interested in the field of biochemistry or physiology. Since the subject matter is so diverse the significance of this volume will be different for each individual. The material contained in the book should be excellent for both one's own research as well as the teaching of rather sophisticated laboratories in the fields of biochemistry and physiology.   Richard L. Mansell

Univ. of South Florida

TSO, T. C. Physiology and Biochemistry of Tobacco Plants. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc., Stroudsburg, Pa., 1972. :393 pp. $24.50.

The author states in the preface "This monograph is a source book for research scientists interested in plant physiology and biochemistry in general, and tobacco in particular." I find this statement truly describes the nature of the material examined and for whom the book was written. It is indeed a monograph in which varied topics are reviewed and documented with pertinent and complete references to original papers. The volume is divided into six major parts which treats plant and tobacco types, growth and development, post-harvest handling, organic metabolism, leaf usability, and production and regulation. Three-fourths of the pages are included in chapters dealing with growth and development and organic metabolism.

31

Dr. Tso introduces each chapter with general statements that basically outline what is known in that particular area of research, especially with tobacco. The topics are then developed on the basis of information found in the literature. This approach results in a review of each subject which is supplemented in most cases by only brief discussion. Original data is reproduced to a limited extent; perhaps more use of this technique would have decreased descriptive details and allowed more discussion of the various researches. Dr. Tso is eminently qualified for discussing and interpreting the works of others, since he has personally been involved in much of the research done with tobacco plants.

Each chapter has been written with a great deal of care. The reference material has been expertly interwoven into the body of the text making it easy to read. It is clear that the author has not simply scanned abstracts, but has read details of the papers and then integrated them into a coherent topic for each chapter. Some early 1900 articles are cited, but the most extensive coverage is derived from research published during the 1950s and 60s through 1971. An important aspect not to be overlooked is the authors summary of each chapter. A general state-of-the-art is given followed by probing statements that separate evidence from conjecture. Furthermore, Dr. Tso often projects which directions research should be pursued to advance understanding of the subject under consideration.

Besides a typical subject index, the book contains an author index which indicates both the page on which the complete reference appears and the page on which they are cited. This greatly enhances the usefulness of the volume as a reference text.

The chapter on seed and seedling growth examines seed storage, chemical composition, viability, factors influencing germination, and growth kinetics. The coverage is comprehensive and illustrates how most topics in the book are examined.

As part of the chapter on mineral deficiency, a series of color plates has been included to illustrate characteristic mineral deficiency symptoms of tobacco plants. The photography and reproduction are excellent; instructors and students of plant physiology will find these an informative asset to their work.

The treatment of carbon-nitrogen balance, enzymes, carbohydrates, organic acids and pigments (Chapters 17-21) is brief and of limited usefulness in terms of specific information; the value of these chapters can be counted in the reference listings. In contrast, however, Chapters 23 and 24 examine alkaloids and phenolics more extensively, providing details and discussion in addition to literature citations. This more complete coverage, of course, stems from the importance of these compounds in tobacco.

The book is well-written and covers nearly all aspects of tobacco biology. Although the plant physiologist and biochemist would appreciate and have some utility for the book in research and upper division courses, its greatest value would be to the plant scientist working with tobacco or closely-related plants. For these people, the monograph is highly recommended.   Richard N. Trelease

Arizona State Univ.

GENTRY, H. S., The Agave Family in Sonora. United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Hand-book No. 399, Washington, D.C., 1972. 192 pp. 72 illus., $1.25.

Gentry has written an intriguing book of systematic and evolutionary significance summarizing his many years of research on the Agavaceae in Sonora, Mexico. The book is divided into two sections. The first forty pages considers a wide range of subjects including the ecology, animal associations, economic botany, history, morphology and species concepts of the Agavaceae. Although all systematists may not agree with Gentry's species concept, he has made an admirable attempt to establish a base line definition of species in the Agavaceae that future workers of this taxon can use in their research. The use of floral ideographs to depict the range of morphological variation in a species group, on distribution maps, is a meaningful and clever application of Andersonian technique.

The systematic treatment which occupies the remain-der of the book begins with a key to the genera of the family followed by keys to the species in each genus. Each species is described and well-illustrated with line drawings andlor photographs. In some cases habitat photographs are provided. In addition to the general description of the species, Gentry has provided a vast amount of data about the natural history, biology, and economic botany of some of the species. His use of the personal narrative, as well as his many personal experiences with this group of plants, makes material which is normally tedious reading to all except the specialist in a group entertaining where possible without the loss of scientific integrity.

The book is readable for both the professional and layman and, where necessary, the excellent glossary defines many terms primarily associated with this plant family. The book will be of special interest to those people living in the southwestern United States where members of the Agavaceae included in this work are often grown as garden and atrium plants.   W Hardy Esh Baugh

Miami Univ. (Ohio)

STREETS, R. B. The Diagnosis of Plant Diseases The

University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Ariz. $4.95.

The Diagnosis of Plant Diseases by Rubert B. Streets, Sr. as the description on the cover indicates is "A field and laboratory manual emphasizing the most practical methods for identification" of plant diseases. It is, however, much more than that. Within the manual lies a fund of information organized in a straight forward manner documenting information that will be useful to those curious about the problems of their favorite plants or crops.

The introductory chapter is packed with common sense and focuses on the background of experience which Dr. Streets has acquired during 44 years of dealing with people having plant problems; from those retirees with their misplaced "lilies-of-the-valley" in the Arizona desert to the big crop production specialists who will "sue you" on your first incorrect diagnosis.

The second chapter establishes many of the principles upon which successful extension plant pathology is based. From the treatment of the "hopeless cases", advice on not "taking sides", to the proper "bedside manner" for the ex-tension man, the chapter is filled with information couched in useful terms and touched with the right amount of humor to make his serious points palatable. The concepts and establishment of a plant disease diagnostic clinic are detailed in the manual: included is practical information on disease identification forms, equipment for diagnosis, and selected chemical formulations for accomplishing particular steps in specimen preservation and identification.

The collection and recording of samples is the subject of chapter three. Sampling, field collections, record taking, and steps in diagnosis are all topics which would be valuable in an advanced course in plant disease diagnosis. A particularly useful section of this chapter describes making photographic records of specimens. Lighting, magnification, and the choices of black and white, color, or infrared films are discussed from the point of view of taking meaningful records.

32

Special methods for the preparation of difficult-tohandle specimens are covered in chapter four which is filled with tips for inducing sporulation of fungi on various plant parts and techniques for examining tissues. Many symptoms shown by these techniques are well illustrated by photographs.

Chapters five through ten constitute somewhat over half the manual and contain the essential keys needed for the diagnosis of nonparasitic diseases including nutrient deficiencies and excesses, and various unfavorable environments; bacterial diseases, nematodes, virus and mycoplasma diseases; imperfect fungi, myxomycetes and phycomycetes; ascomycetes, and basidiomycetes. Accompanying photographs and line drawings simplify the task of keying down diseases and causal agents. Although not comprehensive, the manual covers the majority of problems found on most crop and ornamental species.

Concluding the manual is an index to references "chosen for their usefulness in diagnosis of plant diseases". This list of 44 citations is well documented and should form the backbone of any extension plant pathologist's library.

As is clear from the opening preface to the end of the manual, Dr. Streets has provided precisely the sort of in-formation which is needed to help redirect the course of plant pathology which today is leaning so heavily toward basic research that it is in danger of losing public support. Already in its 2nd edition and third printing, the manual has been widely used by plant pathologists throughout the world. It is my impression that many volumes of The Diagnosis of Plant Diseases will become dog-eared and be replaced, for on every page can be found the kind of in-formation which will repay the reader many times the modest cost of the manual.

Paul H. Williams University of Wisconsin

HEYWOOD, V. H., (ed.) The Biology and Chemistry of the Umbelliferae. Academic Press, New York, 1971. x + 438 pages. $26.00

The Umbelliferae is a cosmopolitan family of considerable botanical, medicinal and economic interests. This volume, based on papers presented at an international symposium under the auspices of the Linnean Society in association with the Phytochemical Society, at-tempts to bring together various aspects of the biology and chemistry of the family. The intent is two fold; to provide interchange among the world's leading umbellifer experts and to provide others with a substantial interest to gain both breadth and depth in comprehending this distinctive family. These purposes are achieved with distinction.

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

LIFE SCIENCE BUILDING

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA TAMPA, FLORIDA 33620

While the work is confined to the taxonomic entity Umbelliferae, it is much more than a systematic account in approach and content. The contribution by J. W. Fair-bairn on the alkaloids of poison hemlock includes aspects of development, biosynthesis and activity as co-enzymes of conline and related compounds. In an analysis of breeding systems and floral biology, C. R. Bell, proposes an evolutionary relationship between primitive promiscuous pollinators and the basic floral uniformity of the umbels. The concluding chapter by D. H. French summarizes the ethnobotanical significance of the family on a world wide basis. These topics exemplify the breadth of the treatment of this family in terms of both biological phenomena considered and the multifaceted approaches to the topics by the participants.

The topics tend to collect around three centers of interest. A current assessment of the relationships and classification of the family is provided by a historical perspective (L. Constance) followed by papers on the Umbels of the New World (M. Mathias), the Old World (V. H. Heywood), New Zealand (J. W. Dawson) and concludes with an interpretation of the Umbellales (R. L. Rodriguez). Distinctive aspects of this family form a second cluster of topics. Included are comparative studies of development (W. L. Theobald), stoma (M. Guyot), fruits (V. H. Heywood and K. M. M. Dakshini) and pollen morphology (M.-Th. Cerceau-Larrival). Chromosome analyses of the family (D. M. Moore) and a genus (A.-M. Cauwet) are also included.

The biosynthesis, function and particularly the distribution patterns of a wide array of chemical sub-stances comprise the third topical array. After a general evaluation of patterns of distribution of chemical sub-stances in the family (R. Hegnauer), more detailed papers on acetylenic compounds (F. Bohlmann) flavonoids (J. B. Harborne) and coumarins (B. E. Nielsen) are presented. Serological comparisons within the Apioideae (J. L. Pickering and D. C. Fairbrothers) and chemosystematics of the Saniculoideae (K. Hiller) illustrate the utilization of chemical evidence at the sub-family level.

Clearly, this volume contains ideas and information pertinent to biologists. generally as well as those with deeper fascinations with the Umbelliferae. The extensive literature citations which enhance each paper, collectively assure it the status as a significant reference source for this family. While papers of diverse authorships are distinctive in approach, they are of excellent quality and are presented in a handsome, well constructed book, which might well be emulated by others with an equivalent goal for major plant families.

Bert G. Brehm Reed College

PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN LIFE SCIENCE BUILDING UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA TAMPA, FLORIDA 33620