PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN

June 1975 Vol. 21 No. 2

The Arnold Arboretum   Richard A. Howard 18
Comments on Holttum's Proposal to Add a New Principle to the Code C. P. Sreemadhaven 23
Appeal for Support for the Index Holmensis Project   Hans Tralau 24
Wildland Shrub Workshop and Laboratory Dedication   24
Botanical Potpourri   24
Personalia   25
Professional Opportunities   25
Editor's Notes   27
Botanical Society of America, Inc. Committees-1975   27

Book Reviews
Corn, its Origin, Evolution and Improvement, P. C. Mangelsdorf (J. Robert Gray) 27
The Blue-Green Algae, G. E. Fogg, W. D. P. Stewart, P. Fay and A. E. Walsby.   (J. Robert Waaland) 28
Island Biology, Sherwin Carlquist   (Charles B. Heiser, Jr.) 28
Microbial Metabolism, "Benchmark Papers in Microbiology", H. Poelle ed. (W. S. Silver) 29
Naturally Occurring Acetylene, R. Bohlmann, T. Burkhardt, and C. Zdero (Dominic V. Basile) 29
Mycology Guidebook, Russel B. Stevens ed.   (Don R. Reynolds) 30
Plant Physiology, A treatise, Vol. VIB Physiology of Development: the Hormones F. C. Steward ed.   (R. M. Klein) 31

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The Arnold Arboretum

Richard A. Howard Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

James Arnold, for whom the Arnold Arboretum is named, was a merchant residing in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A portion of his wealth was derived from clear cutting timber in Michigan. It may have been his awareness that these once-forested lands were turned to housing and to agriculture that prompted him to designate one and one quarter of the 24 parts of his estate to be devoted to a study of agriculture or horticulture. The three trustees of his estate, variously Harvard graudates, friends of Asa Gray, a nurseryman, the author of a book on trees, prevailed on the officers of Harvard University to accept permanent trusteeship of the funds in 1872 and to create an arboretum for the University. Harvard had a botanical garden under the directorship of the aging Asa Gray which had been founded in 1805. Gray welcomed the idea of the establishment of an arboretum complementing his systematic garden, and various sites in Cambridge or across the Charles River in Brighton were considered for purchase. The bequest of $100,000, however, would not purchase land and offer a working endowment as well, and eventually a portion of the Bussey estate in Jamaica Plain, a property in residual legacy, was obtained and designated for the development of an arboretum. In 1873 Charles Sprague Sargent was appointed the first director, with additional duties as Professor of Horticulture at the Bussey Institution and as director of the Harvard Botanical Garden to relieve Gray of administrative duties, and to understudy and learn from him. Charles Sargent had not had a botanical training as a Harvard undergraduate. However, following service in the Civil War, he had served as administrator of his father's large estate in Brookline. Sargent profited from his short service with Gray. The established exchange program at the Harvard botanical garden for seeds, plants, books and specimens was his introduction to the methods of acquiring the necessary materials. Gray's correspondents became Sargent's for the Arnold Arboretum. Gray's interest in the similarity of plants of eastern Asia and eastern North America was influential in directing Sargent's subsequent interests.

The original indenture establishing the Arnold Arboretum specified that all trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, hardy in the vicinity of West Roxbury, were to be grown. Since the Botanic Garden represented the herbs but had few trees, the development was directed to woody plants. From the beginning a portion of the endowment income was to be capitalized, securing the future but limiting the present operation to a small budget. Here Sargent's social standing in Boston was important. In a period when estates in metropolitan Boston were large and the culture of flowering shrubs was important, Sargent obtained gifts to support his developing Arnold Arboretum. These he repaid by the,generous distribution of plants grown from seeds introduced through his role in the Botanic Garden.

Sargent served as director for fifty-four years until his death in 1927 at the age of eighty-six. He laid a pattern for combining botany and horticulture at scientific as well as popular levels which has remained an institutional direction. Sargent traveled widely, collecting herbarium specimens en route, to begin a worldwide herbarium. His travels in Japan enabled him to collect and introduce for the Arnold Arboretum, seeds and plants, and to develeop an institutional interest in the vegetation of Asia. His service with the United States Census Bureau, for a survey of trees, led to his publications, Silva of North America and North American Trees. His staff was small. A librarian originally served also as curator of the young herbarium. Charles Edward Faxon was employed as a botanical artist. Alfred Rehder, a German newspaper writer, was employed as a laborer on the grounds before his talents in horticultural plant taxonomy were recognized. It was Rehder who was sent to Europe on a mission to buy books for the library, partly financed by Sargent's own resources. Under Sargent's direction, the "Bradley Bibliography; a guide to the literature of woody plants of the world published before the beginning of the twentieth century" was prepared (1911-1918) as well as the first annotated catalogue of the library of the Arnold Arboretum (1914). The Bradley Bibliography, long out of print, will be available again soon as a facsimile reproduction. Informative notes on flowering plants and horticulture at the Arnold Arboretum were issued as the Bulletin of Popular Information (1911) edited by Sargent and later by Wilson. The Journal of the Arnold Arboretum (1919) was begun as an outlet for scientific papers with Sargent and Rehder the first editors. For wide coverage of horticulture, in-dependent of the Arnold Arboretum, Sargent began the ill-fated, periodical, Garden and Forest (1888-1897) and was instrumental in writing and securing authors for it.

Ernest Wilson, a plant collector for the Veitch Nurseries , stopped in Boston en route to China and was induced to work for Sargent, beginning his career of plant introduction credited to the Arnold Arboretum. Jackson Dawson was employed as the first propagator and succeeded admirably in handling the seeds sent back by Wilson. John G. Jack filled the role, required by the in-denture, of teaching the knowledge of trees in the University.

In developing the grounds and collections, Sargent consulted with Frederick Law Olmsted who had a commission to develop the Boston Park system. Together they worked out a plan of turning the land of the Arnold Arboretum over to the City of Boston as part of the park system, with the reluctant participation of both Harvard and city officials. This agreement gave title of the land to the city, with the responsibility for building and maintaining the roads, paths, benches and fences, and for police protection; while the Arnold Arboretum Trust, through Harvard, retained responsibility for the development and maintenance of the collections. A 1,000-year lease for the peppercorn rent of one dollar a year was established in 1879. The grounds were to be open to the public at reasonable hours.

A century later the problems Sargent created are as important as the assets and programs he began. Although the endowment has grown, the financial base was never adequate to support the full potential of the diverse program. No money is supplied by the University or by the city, and annual gifts are solicited for general operations

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as well as specific projects. Costs of maintaining the living collections and supporting work in horticulture must be balanced against basic scientific work and the development of the herbarium and the library, necessitating some agonizing administrative decisions in periods of inflation. Fences were never completed for the property and the existing units are inadequate for proper protection of young plantings. No agreement ever specified the responsibility or financing of guards, or the collection of debris left by visitors. Yet Sargent left a legacy of activity in horticulture, in plant introduction and distribution and in botany. The areas of forestry, floristics and systematic studies were all, in his mind, worthy of support from a generous public. Sargent saw the need for studies of the plants of the tropics. He visualized an herbarium representative of the flora of the world supported by a library of equal coverage. For the grounds he wanted a rock garden, a collection of roses, and a large lake, none of which was developed, being high-cost-maintenance specialties. His will contained two gifts for the Arnold Arboretum. One gift was for additions to the library collections, specifying the areas in which books should be bought. A second carried his confidence in the future, a gift to be capitalized for one hundred years; at the end of the period to be divided in equal parts, one half to continue capitalization for another century, the other half to provide endowment income for immediate use.

Sargent directed the Arnold Arboretum in splendid isolation. His death presented administrative problems to the trustees. E. H. Wilson, assuming a role, designated himself "keeper," while the University appointed Oakes Ames as supervisor until a new director could be chosen. Wilson was killed in an automobile accident, and E. D. Merrill was chosen, at first administrator of botanical collections with headquarters in Cambridge, and later, director of the Arnold Arboretum with headquarters in Jamaica Plain.

Merrill had served the Department of Agriculture in the Philippines with an interest in the floras of the Pacific islands, before moving successively to the University of California, the New York Botanical Garden (as Director), and to Harvard. Merrill's interest was in the herbarium and the floras of Asia, and a significant portion of the resources of the institution was devoted to that area. Botanists of China, India and Japan were encouraged by grants to study at the Arnold Arboretum, and much financial support was given to collectors in temperate and tropical Asia. It was through these contacts that the discovery of Metasequoia was called to Merrill's attention, and with a gift from the Arnold Arboretum the species was collected and introduced to western cultivation. Major exchange programs were begun, which soon crowded the herbarium, necessitating the use of cardboard storage boxes which still are often known as "Merrill's Perils." His innovations in the scientific program were many. A loan record form was developed, which has been copied so widely it is almost standard in herbaria operations. Long periodical titles, difficult to cite, were shortened to one-word designations, and so the Contributions of the Arnold Arboretum became Sargentia,

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and the Bulletin of Popular Information, Arnoldia. It is often speculated that the Journal of the Arnold Arboretum was to become Merrillia one day. Lazella Schwarten was appointed librarian during the Merrill ad-ministration. With cooperators she produced the Torrey Index of Botanical Literaure, and with Harold Rickett developed a standardized system of abbreviations of titles of periodicals. This system has been supplemented by the larger Botanica-Periodicum-Huntianum of the Hunt Botanical Library. At New York Botanical Garden, using W.P.A. labor, Merrill developed the cut-up Index Kewensis, and with staff assignments duplicated the useful volumes with the Arnold Arboretum copies. Similarly, original descriptions of taxa were laboriously retyped and inserted in the herbarium. Merrill also began the program of duplicating old but rare volumes, making these treasured items more available. These were the first of the now widespread facsimile reproductions. His project to record the Linnaean herbarium on microfilm before World War II may be considered the progenitor of current microfiche reproductions of important herbaria.

Under Merrill's administration the care of the living collections was assigned to the newly hired Donald Wyman. A pathologist was added to the staff in Joseph Fault. The Atkins Institution of the Arnold Arboretum was a tropical botanical garden in Cuba administered by Merrill; and the Case Estates in Weston were acquired as part of the Arnold Arboretum. Horticultural taxonomy was the specialty of Alfred Rehder, who produced a new edition of Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs and, with Merrill's support, the Bibliography of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs. With E. H. Walker, Merrill produced and found funds for the publication of the Bibliography of Eastern Asiatic Botany. Merrill's card file of a similar bibliography of the Pacific islands was never published but remains a valuable library asset. Another file anticipated a checklist of the plants of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

In Merrill's role as administrator of botanical collections he proposed a central building that would house, in independent wings, the several separately endowed herbaria and libraries managed by the various organizations at Harvard. Plans for this consolidation, which would solve overcrowded conditions of each institution, were approved, but the outbreak of World War II prevented implementation. By the end of World War II Merrill had passed the compulsory retirement age. I. W. Bailey, senior staff member of the Arnold Arboretum, reexamined the proposed consolidation of botanical collections and recommended, in the form of a study entitled, "Botany and its applications at Harvard," that a central building be built with University funds previously authorized, and that the botanical area be reorganized administratively. Partly through inept handling and a lack of public ex-planation the proposal polarized the supporters of botany at Harvard, as well as the staff, alumni and Friends of the Arnold Arboretum. This led to a period of years of prolonged and repeated legal suits by the supporters of the Arnold Arboretum against Harvard University as trustee of the Arnold Arboretum.

Karl Sax was appointed acting director to replace Merrill (and later Director) during the period of the "controversy over the Arnold Arboretum." Sax, a geneticist by training, authorized some major changes in the living collections. Beatrix Farrand was retained as a consulting landscape architect. Many "botanical taxa" were removed to favor the increase in the more ornamental varieties. The living collections began to exhibit an emphasis on nursery-developed cultivars.

Sax, supported by most members of the Arboretum staff, did not favor the removal of portions of the library, herbarium and staff to Cambridge, or the proposed redistribution of the funds of the Arnold Arboretum. When he refused to implement the move, pending legal decision, he was relieved of his administrative role as director of the Arnold Arboretum in 1953, but continued until retirement as a professor of botany.

Richard A. Howard was appointed director in 1954. In the course of the various decisions and appeals marking the progress of the legal suits against Harvard, changes were made in the original Bailey plan. A Harvard University Herbarium building was build in Cambridge, and the Gray Herbarium, portions of the Arnold Arboretum herbarium and library and portions of the Botanical Museum were incorporated in the new building. Twelve years later, in 1966, the final legal decision approved the de facto division of the Arnold Arboretum, specifying certain actions, one being the creation of a plural word, Harvard University Herbaria, for the Cam-bridge building. Stipulation was made that although the Arnold and Gray collections were integrated in one her-barium series and one library, each sheet and each book was to be designated as to ownership; that certain costs and appointments could be shared; and that the individual directors would retain budget authority for their respective organizations. The pattern was established of cooperative but divided responsibility for integrated collections and associated staffs in one building.

The Harvard Botanical Garden, founded in 1805, was abandoned during World War II for lack of sufficient funds and pressures for veterans' housing. The complete staff and resources of the Gray Herbarium were moved into the new building. The division of the Arnold Arboretum was developed as one of retaining, with the living collections in Jamaica Plain, the resources of books and specimens pertinent to work in horticulture, while the nonhorticultural activities were established in Cambridge.

The fears of the public involved in the legal proceedings that the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain would be abandoned, or that the horticultural activities would diminish, were unfounded from the start. With space freed in the Administration Building in Jamaica Plain a more convenient arrangement for research and education programs could be established. A lecture room and exhibition area were developed. The emphasis on an

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adequate herbarium for the identification and study of the cultivated plants of the world encouraged additions providing at the present time a collection of 160,000 specimens arranged in the usual family sequence with geographic distribution indicated by colored folders. This is now the largest herbarium of its kind anywhere, and, while still deficient in herbaceous material and monocots, it has proven its worth. A modernized interior permits classes, meetings, educational programs, exhibits and displays not possible previously. A new greenhouse complex was built, increasing threefold the available space and facilities for collections or plant propagation research under glass. A new service building for equipment has permitted the housing of new mechanical equipment for more efficient care of the living collections.

When the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature was rewritten to separate the problems of horticulture as the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants, emphasis was placed on the recognition of cultivars and as taxonomic and bibliographic units, and on the establishment of registration authorities. The suggested compilation and publications of cultivar registration lists was a challenge requiring an excellent library, including nursery catalogues, for the bibliographic references. Rehder's accumulated indices proved exceedingly valuable for this work. The Arnold Arboretum staff became leaders in attempts to follow the provisions of the Code, and registration lists were published in Arnoldia. The staff assumed the role, nationally and internationally, as the registration authority for twenty taxa at the generic level, and as the center for national registration for woody groups not otherwise represented. The role is enacted in cooperation with the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta and the American Horticultural Society, The International Society for Horticultural Sciences and International Commission of Plant Nomenclature and Registration. In each of these organizations the Arnold Arboretum staff members have served as officers and participating committee members.

The use of computers by botanical gardens for record keeping has been a development of the past decade. Aboretum staff members have been continuously involved in the development of the Plant Records Center, a project funded by a grant from the Longwood Foundation. The excellent documentation of the holdings, living and dead, of the Arboretum collections form a significant part of the existing records. Full historical acquisition and propagation data are now in computer-based printouts, making our collection management more efficient and general in-formation on our holdings more readily available.

The living collection as a systematic collection is shared with many botanical and horticultural research programs. Requests for material from the living collections exceed 500 each year. Over 7,000 taxa have proven hardy in the "vicinity of West Roxbury," and an additional 1,000 taxa are held in nursery and greenhouse collections. The addition of the Case Estates, 110 acres of land in the town of Weston, in the early 1940's supplemented the program of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. The Case Estates serve primarily as a nursery area, but taxa which cannot be accommodated in Jamaica Plain are retained in low maintenance areas, available to investigators but not displayed for the public. Special horticultural display areas of street trees, perennials, mulches, ground covers, and generic collections are included in the Case Estates area. Many of the public educational programs offered by the Arnold Arboretum are conducted more efficiently in Weston than in Jamaica Plain, and a small lecture room is reserved for that purpose. Thus, the Arnold Arboretum in 1975 operates in three Massachusetts areas, in Jamaica Plain (265 acres), in Weston (110 acres) and in the Harvard University Herbaria building in Cambridge.

The urban botanical garden of today has lost its isolation. Modern transportation has encased many gar-dens in a network of roads or public transportation systems, increasing the number of visitors. The telephone and modern methods of communication, including TV, and a myriad of publications, involve staff members in active programs of education. Arboreta and other gardens are more involved than ever before in "action" programs of the environment, and in the city schools as a source of information. A tax-exempt status enjoyed by most gardens creates an image problem of increasing significance in local areas. An arboretum must offer service to the public in exchange. The Arnold Arboretum is not alone in experiencing these pressures and responding to the requests, even demands. A public participation program involves the staff on the grounds, within the neighborhood, or at city, state or national levels. Fortunately "volunteers" can be trained to help in these programs or to supplement the assistance offered to the staff. The Arnold Arboretum has used volunteers in every facet of its program. One aspect proven significant is the cooperation with the local poison control center maintained by the Boston hospitals. A telephone number on the cover of each telephone book indicates Poison (information center), and a live answer is available twenty-four hours a day. All calls on plant materials are now referred to the Arnold Arboretum during working hours, and to individual staff numbers in the evenings. Calls about plants as potential poisons constitute the third most frequent category behind aspirin and detergents. Botanists are supposed to know the local flora as well as the cultivated plants and house plants,

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.

Manuscripts intended for publication in PLANT SCIENCE BULLETIN should be ad. dressed to Dr. Robert W. Long, editor, Life Science Bldg. 174, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620. Announcements, notes, short scientific articles of general interest to the members of the Botanical Society of America and the botanical community at large will be considered for publication to the extent that the limited space of the publication permits. Line illustrations and good, glossy, black and white photographs to accompany such papers are invited. Authors may order extracted reprints without change in pagination at the time proof is submitted.

Material submitted for publication should be typewritten, doublespaced, 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 Micro-film, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106.

The Plant Science Bulletin is published quarterly at the University of South Florida, 42117 Fowler Ave., Tampa, Fla. 33620. Second class postage paid at Tampa, Florida.

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and the potential danger of these. On the basis of long experience in identifying the potentially troublesome plants by specimens or telephoned "descriptions," the staff of the Arnold Arboretum published an issue of Arnoldia on "Poisonous Plants" and produced an educational film now widely used in hospitals, schools, and colleges.

The regular publication program of the Arnold Arboretum includes the quarterly Journal of the Arnold Arboretum and the bimonthly horticultural periodical Arnoldia. The publication, Contributions of the Arnold Arboretum, succeeded by Sargentia, was planned to contain longer monographs and to be sold as individual issues. Excessive printing and distribution costs put a stop to this program. Special publications supported by the Arnold Arboretum, such as the historical treatment, The Arnold Arboretum - The First Century; the guidebook, Through the Arnold Arboretum; Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum; Wild Plants of the City; Low Maintenance Perennials; The Cumulative Index to Urban's Symbollae Antillanae; have followed the classic Lilacs; Botanical Exploration of the Trans-Mississippi West 1790-1850 and Yuccas of the Southwestern United States by Susan McKelvey; The Genus Pinus, and The Pines of Mexico by G. R. Shaw; and Rehder's Bibliography of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs.

By the terms of the original indenture, the director of the Arnold Arboretum, as the Arnold Professor of Botany, was to teach the knowledge of trees in the University. Sargent did not like to teach and delegated this function, with the approval of the trustees, to John George Jack. In succeeding years other staff members did offer courses within the Harvard curriculum under a quid pro quo program whereby the University shared a portion of the staff salary. This sharing was eliminated in the legal proceedings involving the Arnold Arboretum. With the exception of those guided by Karl Sax, relatively few graduate students worked under the direction of members of the Arboretum staff. Today only Richard Howard and Carroll Wood as professors of biology offer regularly scheduled classes or supervise the work of graduate students. The staff does offer extension courses, summer school courses and popular noncredit courses open to students and to the public. The facilities and collections are used regularly by Harvard students and classes, and by visitors and visiting classes from other universities.

Field work for monographic or floristic studies has been a traditional part of the staff activity. The major staff collections maintained in the Arnold Arboretum herbaria are the following: Brass (Papua New Guinea, Australia, Africa); Howard (Antilles); Hu (China, Hong Kong); Jack (Cuba); Johnston (Mexico, Chile); Linder (Liberia); Nevling (Mexico); Palmer (United States); Rock (China); Sargent (diverse cultivated materials); A. C. Smith (Fiji); Wilson (China, Japan, Korea). Floristic type projects in the process of publication include a Flora of the Lesser Antilles (Howard), manual of woody cultivated plants (Spongberg), flora of Hong Kong and the new territories (Hu) and the Generic Flora of the Southeastern United States (Wood). Current staff members and their areas of research interest are:

Gordon DeWolf (Trees of Massachusetts; monographic studies of Ficus, Dorstenia); Alfred Fordham (propagation of woody plants; witches' broom derivatives); Richard Howard (descriptive vascular anatomy of nodes and petioles; growth and flowering patterns; flora of the Lesser Antilles); Shu-Ying Hu (flora of Hong Kong); Eric Lee

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(Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae of the United States and China); Norton Miller (Bryological studies; Liriodendron); Lily Perry (Medicinal plants of Southeast Asia); George Pride (Hemerocallis); Kenneth Robertson (generic flora of Southeastern United States); Bernice Schubert (monograph and flora studies of Begonia, Desmodium, Dioscorea); Stephen Spongberg (manual of cultivated trees and shrubs); Peter Stevens (Malesian floras, especially Calophyllum and the Ericaceae); Richard Weaver (tropical Gentianaceae, cultivated Hamamelidaceae), and Carroll Wood (generic flora of Southeastern United States).

The herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum, comprising 1,026,459 specimens, shares a National Science Foundation grant awarded to the botanical collections of Harvard for curatorial work. The large backlog of specimens has received special attention in the past three years to make collections available. A major problem still facing the institutions housed in the Harvard University Herbaria building is the need for additional space for accommodating collections, staff, and students, and providing research facilities for staff and visitors. The growth of the herbarium in the last two decades has had some unfortunate results. Nearly ten per cent of the integrated collections of the Gray Herbarium and the Arnold Arboretum are now stored in cardboard boxes atop of standard herbarium cases, and the library is comparably crowded. The present lack of facility grants and the inhospitable economic climate do not suggest an immediate solution to the curatorial and housing problem.

James Arnold had no association with the Arnold Arboretum. We believe, however, that he would be pleased with the use made of his original bequest.

REFERENCES
S. B. Sutton. The Arboretum Administrators: An
Opinionated History. Arnoldia 32 (1): 3-22. 1972.

S. B. Sutton, The Arnold Arboretum: the First Century. Arnold Arboretum 1971.

S. B. Sutton, Charles Sprague Sargent and the Arnold Arboretum. Harvard Press. 1971.

Comments on Holttum's Proposal to Add a New Principle to the Code

C. P. Sreemadhavan

*University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida & Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

I agree with Holttum (Taxon 23: 648-650, 1974) on the desirability of critical taxonomic investigations preceeding the strict application of the provisions of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. However, to incorporate this idea as a principle into the Code will not, in my opinion, add any significant improvement to the Code. In fact such a principle will probably contribute to the confusion between taxonomy and nomenclature. Even today, as Proskauer pointed out not very long ago (Taxon 1.7: 583-584, 1968), there exists considerable con-fusion in the minds of many botanists regarding the distinction between taxonomy and nomenclature. In addition there will always be incompetent, uncritical taxonomists and nomenclaturists who will be making combinations and changing names without a proper understanding of the plants or taxa to which those new names are to be applied. Writing a new principle into the Code is unlikely to deter such persons from continuing their activities since the Code or IAPT has no power of enforcement. The freedom of a taxonomist to apply a name to a taxon they are dealing with, even if they act contrary to the provisions of the Code is implied in the spirit of the Code. They are encouraged to give their reasons and if the majority of taxonomists agree with their views they become part of the Code. This freedom and flexibility is important to make the Code generally acceptable to the majority of botanists.

Taxonomic judgements are subjective and potentially fluctuating. The examples cited by Holttum in support of his new principle merely reflect his opinion. He seems to be playing the "I-KNOW-BEST" game (Leopold, BioScience 23: 593, 1973). He seems to imply that his taxonomic opinion is superior to the opinions of O. Kuntze, K. Schumann, C. F. Reed, Pichi Sermolli and others. How can he be sure that two hundred years from now some taxonomist may not unearth new evidence to support the opinions of these `uncritical' workers?

I recommend a careful reading of Prof. Chester Bradley's preface to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1961) for those who might be tempted to support Holttum's proposal. The following excerpts illustrate the interrelationships between taxonomy and nomenclature. They are, in my opinion, just as valid in Botanical Nomenclature as in Zoological Nomenclature (italics mine): (p. IV): "The present International Code derives its status from enactments of the International Congresses of Zoology, but its real authority lies in the ex-tent to which it interprets and expresses the will of Zoologists in whose consciences its enforcement lies.

"While based on principles, the Code recognises none as paramount to its fundamental aim, which is to provide the maximum universality and continuity in zoological nomenclature compatible with freedom in taxonomic practice. It seeks to provide the name which (p. V) every zoologist, now and hereafter, under whatever circumstances may be imposed by his personal taxonomic judgement, shall apply to any given taxon .. .

"The Code refrains from infringing upon taxonomic judgement which must not be subject to restraint. Harmony with taxonomy, however the latter fluctuates, is secured by the device of types: each name is conceived to be based on a type (individual specimen or taxon) which for nomenclature purposes defines it objectively ... From the viewpoint of nomenclature each taxon consists of its type plus all other individuals, species, or genera that any given taxonomist holds to belong to it. The limits of each are a question of taxonomy ignored by nomenclature .. .

... the complete binominal name of a species can be stabilised only for the type-species of each nominal genus, and then only to the extent that such genus is and continues to be recognized as a valid taxonomic entity. The generic placement of all other specific names is a matter of potentially fluctuating taxonomic judgement."

In conclusion I emphatically urge the rejection of Holttum's proposal for a new principle.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank Dr. Leo J. Hickey, Division of Paleobotany, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. for constructive criticism of this paper.

REFERENCE

Stoll, N. R. et al (Eds). 1961 - International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. London.

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Appeal for Support for the Index Holmensis Project

The Index Holmensis is an index of plant distribution maps with world-wide coverage. It is the only international bibliography on distribution of vascular plants in area and vegetation maps.

We have so far published four volumes, i.e. volume I, covering vascular cryptogams, volume II containing Monocotyledoneae A - I, volume III Monocotyledoneae J - Z, and finally volume IV covering Dicotyledoneae A - B, together more than 1000 pages. We intend to continue to publish one volume each year. The total number of distribution maps so far published is estimated to about 400,000, all of which will all finally be listed in the index or its supplement. Although the main work is at present done at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm the indexing work is served by an international editorial board. Members of this board to some extent guarantee completeness of the file for their particular area.

Still, the number of area and vegetation maps published annually is growing rapidly owing to the in-creased importance that is felt for the geographic compound of plant taxa. Consequently, not only are there wide areas all over the world where the entire flora is mapped systematically, but mapping has become a common feature in monographs in different fields, as for in-stance economic botany, palaeobotany, vegetational history, palynology, and last but not least phytocoenology.

In order to keep the file for the Index Holmensis and its planned supplement volumes up-to-date we herewith ask our fellow botanists to inform us about their published maps and/or to send reprints of their publications. Needless to say, we shall also continue to supply all information on distribution maps so far not published in the Index Holmensis to colleagues on request. All correspondence should be addressed to: Hans Tralau, The Swedish Museum of Natural History, S - 104 05 STOCKHOLM 50.

Wildland Shrub Workshop and
Laboratory Dedication

On November 4, 5, and 6, 1975, a Workshop on Wildland Shrubs will be held in Provo, Utah, at Brigham Young University_ This three-day workshop will formally initiate the research program of the U. S. Forest Service Shrub Research Laboratory which is currently under construction. The first day of the workshop will consist of short progress reports from the U.S. Forest Service Shrub Improvement Research Project and Watershed Protection and Rehabilitation Project plus reports from research workers in other agencies and universities. The second day will include contributed papers on shrub research and visits to local research sites. The third day will feature a plenary session of four invited papers of in-depth research on shrubs and a special dedication program for the laboratory. The Utah Section, SRM, will meet on the evening of November 6.

Scientists wishing to present papers on the second day of the workshop should prepare a one-page abstract of not more than 250 words and send it to Professor Howard Stutz, Botany and Range Management Department, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602. Deadline for submission of abstracts is September 15.

BOTANICAL POTPOURRI

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION'S Report on Endangered and Threatened Plant Species of the United States has been presented to Congress and published by the Government Printing Office. Contained in the 200-page Report are lists of endangered, threatened, commercially exploited and recently extinct species of the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), as well as Recommendations for the preservation and protection of these species. Listings of endangered and threatened species arranged alphabetically by States are included. A limited number of complimentary copies of the Report are avaiulable, upon written request, from: Endangered Flora Project, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560.

THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PLANT PATHOLOGY will be held in Munchen 16 - 23 August, 1978. The Congress is being organized by the Deutsche Phytomedizinishe Gesellschaft on behalf of and in collaboration with the International Society for Plant Pathology. Further information can be obtained from: Congress Plant Pathology, Biologische Bundesanstalt, Messeweg 11/ 12, D-3300 Braunschweig, Federal Republic of Germany.

COPIES OF THE BY-LAWS FOR THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA and its Sections are available from the Secretary of the Society:

Patricia Holmgren, Secretary Botanical Society of America, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York 10458.

THE HUNT INSTITUTE FOR BOTANICAL DOCUMENTATION is going to put its show on the road, literally.

Ten traveling exhibitions of botanical art and illustration are being offered for public viewing at museums, schools, arboreta, and other institutions throughout the country.

The purpose of the traveling exhibitions is to share the Hunt Institute's art collection with as broad a community as possible, according to Gilbert S. Daniels, director of the Institute. Material for the shows includes water-colors, pen-and-ink drawings, pencil sketches, and prints of various types — many of them hand-colored illustrations from important botanical publications. The exhibitions will be loaned for display periods of 30 to 60 days in most cases and will provide a cross-section of the permanent collection, as well as special subjects.

Further information and a prospectus on the traveling exhibitions are available from John V. Brindle, Curator of Art, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.

A NEW SERIES WILL SERVE FOR PUBLICATION of the results of original botanical and horticultural research undertaken by members of the staff of Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden or in collaboration with the Garden's programs. The title commemorates the late Mr. Robert Allerton (1873-1964), a principle patron and founding trustee of the Garden. ALLERTONIA will be inaugurated with the publication of Rare and Endangered Species of Hawaiian Vascular Plants, by F. R. Fosberg and Derral Herbst.

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Standing orders may be placed by writing to: Publications Secretary, Pacific Tropical Botanical Gar-den, P. O. Box 340, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii 96765 USA

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL MYCOLOGICAL CONGRESS is to be held at the University of South Florida at Tampa in late August of 1977. The Executive Committee for the Congress consists of people who work on fungi with a variety of approaches. It is the hope of this committee that the program at Tampa will be attractive to all who have an interest in the biology of fungi including plant pathologists, geneticists, medical mycologists, food scientists, etc. The officers of the Executive Committee are Emory G. Simmons, Chairman; Melvin S. Fuller, Secretary; Leland Shanor, Treasurer; and Henry Aldrich, Program Chairman. Further details on the program of the Congress will appear in this and other publications. Anyone who feels they might not receive the first circular through a society concerned with fungi or who wishes to have an input in development of the congress is urged to contact the secretary: Melvin S. Fuller, Department of Botany, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602.

MONEY IS AVAILABLE for small short-term preliminary studies in the controlled environment facilities of either the Duke University or North Carolina State University Phytotrons. Additional funds are available in this National Science Foundation Grant to support travel to the Phytotron for planning controlled environment research that would be facilitated by the special capabilities of the laboratories.

Contact the following for futher details. If writing, include a short summary of your proposed research.

Dr. Henry Hellmers, Director, Phytotron, Duke University, Durham, N. C. 27706, Phone (919) 684-4262.

Dr. R. J. Downs, Director, Phytotron, NCSU, Raleigh, N. C. 27607, Phone (919) 737-2779.

GEOBOTANY CONFERENCE. February 21, 1976. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403. The theme of the meeting will be Geobotany, an integrating experience. Invited papers in the areas of paleobotany, palynology, and ecology will be presented, in addition to papers submitted by interested participants. If you wish to be placed on the mailing list for further in-formation, please notify Dr. Robert C. Romans, Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403.

8TH ANNUAL MEETING OF AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STRATIGRAPHIC PALYNOLOGISTS, Houston, Texas, October 29-31, 1975. Field trip to Recent environments Oct. 28 and Nov. 1. Symposium on thermal maturation of organic material as related to hydrocarbon generation and migration Oct. 29. Details from W. C. Elsik, Exxon Co., U.S.A., P. O. Box 2189, Houston, Texas 77001.

PERSONALIA

Rose Ann Cattolico, who is presently a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Sarah Gibbs at McGill University, will be joining the University of Washington Botany Department as an Assistant Professor in September 1975. Dr. Cattolico's present research interests are in the biogenesis of algal chloroplasts; she is presently using the Chrysophyte alga Olisthodiscus luteus for these studies.

THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN IN THE BRONX announced today the receipt of three grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $97,400.

The largest grant, for $36,400, will support the research of the president of the New York Botanical Gar-den, Dr. Howard S. Irwin, and research associate Rupert Barneby, which is a continuation of their classification and study of the Cassia (Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae) plants of tropical South America. Their study represents the first comprehensive survey of the genus Cassia since 1871 and is based largely on the extensive collections obtained by Dr. Irwin during numerous visits to south-central Brazil.

A grant of $31,000 will facilitate research of Dr. David Giannasi, who is studying the chemical composition of the Cassia specimens brought back by Dr. Irwin. Through his analysis of the specimens' chemical structure, Dr. Giannasi will determine, among other things, whether the chemistry of some 600 species agrees with their taxonomy. Many of these species have not been closely examined since they were named hundreds of years ago, and never with today's advanced scientific techniques.

The third grant, for $30,000, is to support the research of Dr. William C. Steere, former president of the New York Botanical Garden and now one of its senior scientists, for a continuation of his study entitled "Arctic American Mosses and Hepatics — Their Systematics, Ecology, and Geographical Distribution." Dr. Steere has spent 15 "field seasons" in the subarctic and arctic regions of both poles and he is recognized throughout the world as an authority on tundra vegetation. His findings have stirred particular interest in recent years in connection with construction of the Alaska oil pipeline.

Each of the grants is for two years.

PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Department of Botany, is seeking applications in Biology, Sessional Lecturer (September 1, 1975 - May 31, 1976). Qualifications: M.Sc. (or B.Sc. with laboratory teaching experience) in Biology, with broad general background of experience in life sciences, and especially in courses in botany and zoology.

Experience: Laboratory teaching experience, preferably at the university level. Organizing ability. and leadership qualities expected. Some knowledge of computer programming desirable. Duties: To be responsible for teaching in the introductory biology laboratory; to design one or more elective projects that students enroll in for the last five weeks of the Academic Year; to assist in administration aspects related to laboratory operation (registration, compilation of grades, etc.). Submit application, including copy of curriculum vitae, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. R. F. Scagel, Head, Department of Botany, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., V6T 1W5.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and equivalent rank in the Agricultural Experiment Station beginning September 1, 1975. Rank and salary are to be based on qualifications and experience of the applicant: Assume responsibility for a graduate course in crop anatomy and morphology; advise graduate student research. Research time is to be split between the Department of Pomology and the Department of Viticulture and Enology. Research is to be focused on those aspects of anatomy/cytology/morphology that have important implications in fruit and nut crops. Ph.D. required. Experimental plant anatomist/cytologist/morphologist with some background in physiology and biochemistry.

Applicants should send their curriculum vitae, copies of transcripts, and three letters of reference to: Professor Julian C. Crane, Chairman of the Search Committee, Department of Pomology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM AND GRAY HER-BARIUM IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, have an opening for a Curatorial Assistant to work with the Manager of Systematic Collections and to participate in the day-to-day activities that support a major herbarium with active loan and exchange programs and a vigorous accession policy. Principal duties include the filling of loan requests, sorting and inserting specimens, and some supervision of other staff who mount and insert various kinds of plant materials. Applicants should hold a baccalaureate degree, although a Master's degree is preferred. Some training in systematic botany and previous herbarium experience are desirable. Above all applicants should have a genuine interest in herbaria and their operation. A willingness to undertake herbarium routine is also essential. The salary level is related to training and experience.

Applicants should send a resume, including a statement of pertinent experience, to Dr. Norton G. Miller, Harvard University Herbaria, 22 Divinity Avenue, Cam-bridge, MA 02138, as soon as possible. Supporting letters (at least two) should be sent to the same address.

CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA, announces Replacement Vacancies in Biological Sciences, September 1975. THESE POSITIONS ARE TEMPORARY REPLACEMENTS OF FACULTY ON LEAVE.

The Department is seeking: A Lecturer in the area of Genetics. Besides teaching in this area, the individual should be able to teach General Biology Courses. A Lecturer to teach Basic Biology Courses, (a) for non-majors, and (b) disadvantaged students who are studying under the Educational Opportunity Program. A Lecturer in the area of General Botany (Structure & Function) for Biological Science Majors. Besides teaching in this area, the individual should be able to teach General Biology Courses. A Lecturer in Plant Pathology and Botany for Agricultural Majors.

For further information regarding these postions, write to: Dr. Ralph W. Ames, Chairman, Biological Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pomona, California 91768.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, CALIFORNIA — TWO VACANCIES exist in the Postharvest Biology Laboratory - an organized research unit whose mission is the development of basic and applied scientific information requisite to advancements in the efficient distribution of fruits, vegetables and ornamentals. PHYSIOLOGIST/HORTICULTURIST - To conduct research in plant physiology as related to the marketing, distribution and quality of plant products, with emphasis on fruits. Excellent opportunities exist for cooperative projects with extension personnel and other agricultural scientists. CELL BIOLOGIST/PLANT BIOCHEMIST-PHYSIOLOGIST - To advance basic in-formation on aspects of cellular dynamics pertinent to postharvest biology. Preference will be given to candidates who have demonstrated originality and productivity in areas closely related to cellular and tissue senescence.

Please forward curriculum vitae, list of publications, undergraduate and graduate transcripts, and names of three referees to: Dr. Roger J. Romani, Chairman of the Search Committee, Department of Pomology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO has a vacancy at the Assistant Professor level for fall 1975. Applicants must have teaching and research capabilities in aquatic botany. Fields of particular interest include phycology and biology of aquatic angiosperms, but others will be considered. The position carries a yearly 1-semester teaching obligation in general biology.

Applicants should submit complete vitae and 3-5 letters of reference to: Dr. William M. Lewis, Jr., Department of EPO Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80302.

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, PULLMAN, WASHINGTON is seeking applications for an Assistant Professor of Horticulture and Assistant Horticulturist, Pullman, Washington. Teaching responsibilities will include undergraduate courses with emphasis on vegetables and development of graduate course(s) in hormonal control of plant growth. Additional duties will be to guide graduate students in the areas of vegetable research and participate in the development of a strong graduate program. Research responsibilities will be to develop a strong graduate-level research program in vegetable physiology. Research program will be directed toward the developing vegetable crops industries which involve mostly processing crops at this time. Send resume, academic transcripts, work experience, and three letters of reference by June 15, 1975, to: Dr. O. E. Smith, Chairman, Department of Horticulture, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 9916:3.

NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY, NATCHITOCHES, LOUISIANA 71457 is seeking applications for a Botanist - (Available August 25, 1975). The successful candidate will be expected to teach plant taxonomy, plant ecology, aquatic vascular plants, dendrology, and participate in the teaching of general biology to science majors and non-majors. Appointee will also teach on our campus at Fort Polk when called upon. The new member will be expected to maintain and develop the herbarium, direct research of graduate students, and work toward developing a research program in the biology and control of aquatic plants which complements our wildlife-fisheries program. Submit a complete set of credentials (vita, transcripts, list of publications) and three letters of

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recommendation from individuals competent to judge your. professional qualifications to: Dr. Charles F. Thomas, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA 71457.

Editor's Notes

I am pleased to announce the appointment by President Raven and the Executive Committee of Dr. Richard M. Klein, Department of Botany, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05401 as the new Editor of the Plant Science Bulletin beginning January 1, 1976. Dr. Klein is an effective member of the Editorial Board, and has a strong interest in the advancement of the BULLETIN. The Editorship Selection Committee, consisting of Drs. William Stern, Emanuel Rudolph, and myself as chairman, were fortunate in having a number of worthy candidates from whom to choose. We are indeed pleased that Dr. Klein has agreed to accept this appointment.

For my part, I hope the Society gives to the new Editor the same support I have been fortunate to have. The value of the BULLETIN to the membership is immediate, and the contemporary botanical scene changes rapidly just as does society as a whole. The Editor depends on the membership to keep him abreast of developments in their area. I am confident Dr. Klein will welcome the continued interest and support of the Society in producing the Plant Science Bulletin.

Botanical Society of America, Inc.
Committees - 1975

The individuals listed as chairmen serve in that office for 1975. In parentheses following each name is the date of expiration of that individual's appointment to the committee.

Chairman's Address Committee on Corresponding Members

Theodore Delevoryas (1977),   Department of Botany

Chairman   University of Texas

Arthur Cronquist (1976)   Austin, Texas 78712 Charles Heimsch (1975)

Merit Awards Committee

Henry N. Andrews, Jr. (1975), Division of Biological Chairman   Sciences

Arthur Galston (1975)   University of Connecticut

W. Gordon Whaley (1976)   Storrs, Connecticut 06268 Murray F. Buell (1976)

Alexander Smith (1977)

Darbarker Prize Committee

Michael J. Wynne (1975),   Department of Botany

Chairman   University of Texas

Elisabeth Gantt (1976)   Austin, Texas 78712 Robert Hoshaw (1977)

New York Botanical Garden Award Committee

Charles E. Miller (1975),   Department of Botany

Chairman   Ohio University

Donald R. Kaplan (1975)   Athens, Ohio 45701 Tod F. Stuessy (1975)

Robert E. Cleland (1975)

Jeanette Siron Pelton Award Committee

Taylor A. Steeves (1975),   Department of Biology

Chairman   University of Saskatchewan

Dominick Basile (1975)   Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Paul B. Green (1976)   Canada Virginia E. Walbot (1976)

Election Committee

Barbara D. Webster (1975),   Department of

Chairman   Vegetable Crops

Knut J. Norstog (1976)   University of California

James A. Quinn (1977)   Davis, California 95616 Thomas N. Taylor (1978)

Ex officio: Secretary

Education Committee

Willard W. Payne (1975),   Department of Botany

Chairman   University of Florida

Fred R. Rickson (1975)   Gainesville, Florida 32601

S. S. Tepfer (1976) R. F. Scagel (1976) Robert S. Platt (1977) Janice C. Coffey (1977)

Ex officio: President, Secretary, Secretary of Teaching Section, Editor of Plant Science Bulletin, Past Chairman of Committee

Conservation Committee

Wilhelm G. Solheim (1975),   Department of Botany

Chairman   University of Wyoming

Harold A. Mooney (1975)   Laramie, Wyoming 82070

Lloyd C. Hulbert (1975) Jean H. Langenheim (1976) Norton H. Nickerson (1976) James E. Rodman (1976)

Albert E. Dimond Memorial Award

Thomas N. Taylor,   Department of Botany

Chairman   Ohio State University

Joseph Arditti   1735 Neil Avenue

James Gerdeman   Columbus, Ohio 43210 Folke Skoog

Robert Lichtwardt

Donald Stone

Committee to Investigate the Role of Society and AAAS

A. Orville Dahl, Chairman   Morris Arboretum

Bruce B. Stowe University of Pennsylvania 9414 Meadowbrook Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Membership Committee

Samuel N. Postlethwait,   Department of Biological

Chairman   Sciences

Thomas K. Wilson   Purdue University

C. Ritchie Bell   Lafayette, Indiana 47907

Browning Award Committee

Thomas W. Whitaker,   USDA, Box 150

Chairman   LaJolla, Californa 92037 John B. Hanson

REPRESENTATIVES TO VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS OR COMMITTEES

AAAS

A. Orville Dahl (1975)

AIBS Governing Board Theodore Delevoryas (1977)

Division of Biology and Agriculture, National Research Council William L. Stern (1975)

BOOK REVIEWS

MANGELSDORF, P. C., Corn, its Origin, Evolution and Improvement. 1974. Harvard University Press, Cam-bridge. 262 p. 1974.

The origin of maize has been a point of contention since its introduction to Europe nearly 500 years ago. Of the numerous hypotheses put forth, two have been the focus of recent debate. The tri-partite hypothesis of

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Mangelsdorf and Reeves propounding that wild maize was a pod form of corn contrasts sharply with the ideas of George Beadle and others that teosinte (Zea mexicana) is the real "madre del maiz."

Although these hypotheses are quite old, recent evidence has prompted some re-thinking. Professor Mangelsdorf rejecting a major segment of his original hypothesis, concurs that teosinte did not originate as a hybrid between maize and Tripsacum. He argues that it originated through a series of mutations from pre-domesticated maize. An equally strong case could be made that the reverse is correct — that teosinte is wild maize.

The text reviews the available botanic, genetic and archeologic evidence on the origin of maize and in places manipulates this to favor the pod corn hypothesis. Phrases such as "teosinte apologists" and reference to Beadle's Teosinte Mutation Hunt in Mexico as a "safari" are also used to discredit the teosinte origin for maize. All of the research and speculation on the origin of maize has served heuristically to compell the scientific community to explore the biological variation found in the races of maize, teosinte and Tripsacum. These represent valuable genetic resources for the improvement of maize. Professor Mangelsdorf suggests that the 300 indigenous races of maize can be derived from six lineages, each of which evolved from a separate wild race of maize, This hypothesis, requiring multiple domestications of maize, is presented rather abruptly and might well be the object of future research.

The considerable review of the archeological and ethnobotanical literature on maize should be of great interest to students of crop evolution. Only three chapters are devoted to the improvement of maize. Of particular interest are the roles of P. C. Mangelsdorf and D. F. Jones in the development of cytoplasmic sterility and fertility restorer genes which modernized the production of hybrid corn.

The text can serve equally well as an introduction for the serious researcher or as a summary for the less passionately interested. The reader, however, should be cautioned that the book was written in part to support a particular viewpoint, and may not he thoroughly objective.

J. Robert Gray
University of Texas
Austin, Tx.

FOGG, G. E., W. D. P. STEWART, P. FAY, AND A. E. WALSBY, The Blue-Green Algae. Academic Press, London and New York. 1973. vii + 459 pp. L8.50.

Until the recent publication of this book and the almost simultaneous appearance of another, more topic-oriented book (The Biology of the Blue-Green Algae, Carr, N. G., and B. A. Whitton [editors], Blackwell Scientific Publications, London. 1973.), there was no single volume where the researcher or student could turn to get a comprehensive and contemporary account of the blue-green algae. All the authors of The Blue-Green Algae have also contributed chapters to The Biology of the Blue-Green Algae. Because of their small size, slow growth in culture, and the difficulties encountered in isolating blue-green algae into pure culture, many aspects of the study of these common and important microorganisms proceeded slowly until recently. But to many who took up the challenge of studying blue-green algae, the results have been rewarding and fruitful, for knowledge of these blue-green microorganisms has advanced tremendously in the past decade or two through the use of modern techniques to study their ultrastructure, biochemistry, and physiology. Blue-green algae are now the subjects of intensive study in many laboratories all over the world and it is now possible to say that blue-green algae are more like bacteria than any other group of algae, that they play an important geochemical role by their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and that their fossil record indicates that they are the most ancient group of oxygen-evolving photoautotrophs.

In the first three chapters, The Blue-Green Algae introduces the reader to the general nature, overall and sub-cellular organization of these organisms; then a chapter each is devoted to cell biology, gas vacuoles, and motility. Physiology and metabolism are covered by chapters on cultivation and nutrition, photosynthesis and chemosynthesis, heterotrophy and respiration, nitrogen metabolism, and differentiation, reproduction, and life cycles. Most of the final third of the book is devoted to chapters dealing with the relationship of blue-green algae to their environment (freshwater ecology, terrestrial ecology, and marine blue-green algae), the interactions of blue-green algae with other organisms (pathogens of blue-greens and symbiosis), and the highly relevant topic of the ecology of nitrogen fixation by these algae. The concluding chapter deals with the relationship of the Cyanophyta to other plant groups, their fossil record, evolution, and phylogeny. Fifty-six pages of references and a 26 page index enhance the usefulness of this volume as a guide to the classical and contemporary literature on the blue-green algae. Throughout, the book is quite readable, and the text is accompanied by numerous graphs, tables, and high quality photographic illustrations.

Thus this book provides a timely and excellent cover-age of the fascinating group of organisms known as the blue-green algae. Except for a recent small volume on the red algae, those interested in obtaining an up-to-date, comprehensive and stimulating introduction to a particular group of algae are not so fortunate as are those interested in the blue-greens.

J. Robert Waaland University of Washington, Seattle

CARLQUIST, SHERWIN, Island Biology. Columbia University Press. New York, 1974. 660 pp., illus. $$25.00

One might wonder just how Carlquist's new book differs from his previous books, Island Life and Hawaii: A Natural History. These earlier books do overlap somewhat in subject matter with the one under review, but they are semi-popular treatments intended for the general reader whereas the present book is clearly aimed at a scientific audience. In fact, the dust jacket refers to it as a reference book. Although it is not as easy reading as the other two books, parts of it are fascinating.

The book opens with a number of hypotheses or principles concerning dispersal and evolution. Some of these, as the author states, are "restatements of the obvoius," but others have previously received little attention. Chap-ter 2 takes up the evidence for and the implications of long distance dispersal. It is of interest to note that not too many years ago long distance dispersal was often only reluctantly used as a last resort to explain discontinuous distributions, whereas today it is readily accepted, in part from Carlquist's own earlier work.

Chapter 3 is a discussion of adaptive radiation. Carlquist points out that the term adaptive radiation has often been used but only rarely defined. The following six chapters deal with adaptive radiation in various island or island groups. Not surprisingly, most of his examples are drawn from flowering plants, but animals and other

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plants are not neglected. I was somewhat startled by the sentence on p. 156: "The population termed P [ritchardiaJ beccarina behind Hilo is a tall tree ..."

Insular woodiness is the subject of Chapter 10 which includes a rather detailed anatomical examination of a number of species. The next chapter is concerned with the loss of dispersability in island plants and is followed by one with a similar treatment of animals. Chapter 13 deals with reproduction biology on islands; on p. 536 in the two places where he uses "generic barriers" apparently "genetic barriers" is meant. The penultimate chapter is a discussion of equatorial highland biota, the inclusion of which he justifies on the grounds that they present a "decidedly insular situation." The final chapter takes up a number of topics, such as gigantism, changes in appendages, coloration patterns, habits and habitats of animals on islands, which did not conveniently fit elsewhere.

Carlquist certainly does not hesitate to speculate freely, but he makes it clear when he is doing so. He is also quite willing to admit when he can't come up with a possible interpretation. In fact, he raises many questions that he can not answer in the hope that they will stimulate others to search for answers.

No one other than Carlquist could have written this book. He has great familiarity with many of the islands he discusses as well as with a large number of the plant species. Moreover, he is able to draw on literature from widely scattered sources. He makes no apology for his natural history approach to the subject. Indeed, he need not, for he has clearly shown that this approach still has much to offer of great scientific interest.

Charles B. Heiser, Jr. Indiana University

POELLE, H. (ed.). Microbial Metabolism, "Benchmark Papers in Microbiology" Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Inc. 5 Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, 1974.

Any editor who is charged with selecting the out-standing works in a field as diverse as microbial metabolism has indeed set himself a difficult task. This volume of the Benchmark Series must have been particularly difficult to define due to the inclusion of many metabolic topics in other volumes devoted to microbic growth, photosynthesis, or permeability for such things are part and parcel of metabolism. Perhaps the treatment in this volume, which is uneven in the emphasis placed upon various topics, would have been better if the metabolism volume had been the now specialized volume, i.e., an overview and introduction to others in the series.

The author chose to divide the volume into five sections: I. The early stages of microbial metabolism; II. Carbohydrate metabolism; III. Metabolism of inorganic compounds; IV. Aromatic carbon metabolism; and V. Anaerobic fermentation. The first section includes famous papers by Pasteur, Liebig, Buchner and others, some appearing in English (editor's translations) for the first time. Since some of the papers have appeared in other historical collections (as Brock's Milestones in Microbiology and Great Experiments in Biology), it seems that the use of over 18 percent of the pages for setting the stage is worth the cost only if each paper is prefaced by adequate comments by the editor (which seemed unduly brief to the reviewer).

The selections in this and the next section are very good and this reviewer could not but feel excited as he again read some of these "classics", which, as Stadtmen, Novelli and Lipmann on Coenzyme A and Kornberg and Krebs on discovery of evidence for the glyoxalate cycle, were the current literature of "only yesterday" when I was in graduate school. The great value of providing a ready reference such as this is to reveal the logic and ingenuity involved in the experiments. Since this is found only in original papers, the editor did himself a disservice by including reviews.

The selections in the section on inorganic metabolism, while worthy, seem to suffer from the lack of a single paper on nitrogen fixation, a topic uniquely restricted to microbes. So again consideration of selectivity render this volume less appropriate than it might have been. However, such considerations aside, many of those gems of intuition, clear thinking and experimental savoir faire are here; and, for those first beginning their scientific career who find the time to fill in the past, the reading of Stanier on simultaneous adaptation or Postgate on reductions catalyzed by Desulfovibrio desulphuricans or Stickland on the amino acid fermentations will provide ample evidence that, in the world of the microbe, as in larger worlds, past in prologue.

W. S. Silver University of South Florida

BOHLMANN, F., T. BURKHARDT, AND C. ZDERO Naturally Occurring Acetylenes Academic Press. 1973.

The most recent reviews on natural acetylenes appeared in 1966 and 1967, and all of these stressed only one or another facet of the compounds. A book representing comprehensive coverage of these peculiar and interesting natural products is therefore a welcome addition to the literature, valuable both to the chemist and biologist. The present volume provides this coverage, and is accordingly a definitely worthwhile reference book. However, it has many minor flaws, and a number of more serious ones.

Most of the minor errors have to do with language. While the authors (who are German), obviously have an excellent command of English, a number of Germanicisms are repeated throughout the book. For example, the use of "from" incorrectly, probably based on the German usage of "von". On page 23: "From the interpretation of n.m.r. spectra, only the signals influenced by triple bonds will be discussed here". Another Germanicism repeated frequently is use of the definite article e.g., p. 33: "A second usual oxidative reaction of polyynenes is the epoxidation, which often is followed by secondary transformations". There are also a number of unclear sentences resulting from the use of dangling participles e.g. p. 2: "Knowing the spectral regularities, the number of known acetylenes increased in the following years." Other sentences are telescoped, with the result that the meaning is distorted e.g. p. 24: "A typical example of the importance of n.m.r. spectroscopy is shown in Fig. 33. Together with the molecular formula, the complete structure of 262 (see chapter 2, section 3.2) can be elucidated". A number of errors in spelling also occur, throughout the book.

Other errors and inconsistencies of usage have to do with wavenumber units. On page 3 wavenumber is consistently given as "cm" instead of "cm-' ". On page 22 one wavenumber is given as "220 cm" instead of 2200 cm-' and others are given as 2050/cm and 19501cm.

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All of the preceding errors are of a type that could have been avoided by careful editing. But there are also a number of factual errors as well as misleading statements. For example on page 35: "By using cell-free preparations it could be shown that chloroplasts are most probably necessary for the triple bond formation." This, of course cannot apply to fungi but no mention is made of the fact. Another error, on page 116, repeated on page 495, is the statement that mycomycin was isolated from the Actinomycete Nocardia acidophilus although it was reported several years ago, that the mycomycin - producing organism is not an Actinomycete. The confusion is increased by listing Nocardia Acidophilus in a Table of Basidiomycetes (p. 497).

An omission which detracts greatly from the general usefulness of the book, is the absence of a subject index. The inclusion of a botanical index helps but is not a substitute.

Most aspects of natural polyacetylenes are included, although the coverage is uneven. There is a short introductory first chapter, covering isolation methods and historical background very briefly. This also includes a short discussion of structure determination and biogenesis of polyacetylenes as a group.

About 60 percent of the book deals with hundreds of known polyacetylenic compounds - their isolation and biogenesis, and elucidation of their structures. This portion is divided into four chapters (2-5) on the basis of biogenetic considerations. These chapters are divided into sections, each dealing with compounds with similar origin or similar distinctive structural features.

Chapter 6, which with the exception of a few pages comprises the remainder of the book, deals with the distribution of acetylenes. It is mainly composed of tables listing species of higher plants and the acetylenic compounds they produce. The arrangement is on a taxonomic basis. However, it seems questionable whether the presentation is the most advantageous one from a taxonomists point of view. On the one hand, the arrangement makes it very simple to see what acetylenic compounds are produced by any one species. Unfortunately, however, the structures are presented in a kind of shorthand, making them difficult at times to decipher, even for a chemist. For example, on p. 497, mycomycin is formulated: H—_² H—_ H—_ ²CH²COOH. Even when one understands the shorthand, this particular formula presents a certain ambiguity.

Presumably, the shorthand was adopted in the interests of saving space, and the taxonomie arrangement, was used so as to be helpful to taxonomists. But both purposes might be better served by reversing the presentation. If the compounds were listed, and next to each, the species that produce it, chemotaxonomically related species would become apparent. The botanical index would help to follow through on any one particular species. Since the species names take less room than the formulae, repeating the former rather than the latter, should save space. It would also have been better to use names of the compounds, where these are available, in addition to the structures. The last 6 or 7 pages of Chapter 6 are devoted to a summary of chemotaxonomic relationships, in broad outline.

Physiological and pharmacological aspects are treated very briefly (in less than 3 pages) in the final chap-ter, 7.

The book, as is natural, stresses primarily the interests of the authors. If the subject of fungal polyacetylenes seems somewhat neglected, it may be due in part to the fact that the number of known acetylenes from higher plants, to which the authors' research has contributed a large proportion, is much greater than that from fungi. On the other hand, the few findings in fungi that are of chemotaxonomic interest, are not mentioned.

On the whole, "Naturally Occurring Acetylenes" is a book which the expert may find irritating in many ways but nevertheless, very useful. He will recognize errors, but not be misled. For those unfamiliar with the field, it would be well to exercise vigilance, and check information before using it as an important basis for conclusions. The book despite its faults, is an indispensable reference, if only because it is at present the only one of its kind available. It would be highly desirable to have a new edition of this work, in the near future, properly edited both from a literary and scientific standpoint.

Dominick V. Basile Columbia University

STEVENS, RUSSEL B. (ed.) Mycology Guidebook. University of Washington Press, Seattle. 1974. 703 pp. $15.00.

Mycology Guidebook is addressed to encouraging those involved in introductory mycological instruction to incorporate living materials and contemporary in-formation from "genetics, physiology, industrial mycology, fungus ecology and medical mycology" in their courses. The introduction to this tome prepared by the Mycology Guidebook Committee of the Mycological Society of America stresses that the opus is an assemblage dedicated to the enrichment of teaching and of course content rather than a collection of exercises or a manual for laboratory use.

Three formats of information organization are utilized generally and specifically. These include (1) sources of fungi, stressing ecological situations, (2) maintenance and or preservation of illustrative species, and (3) presentation in a meaningful manner. The information is presented in five parts. Part I concerns general collection and isolation of fungi; Part II dwells on representatives of "Taxonomic Groups" with specific elucidation of the generalized data from Part I; Part III considers fungi as ecological groups; Part IV presents fungi as biological tools. An appendix contains bibliographical documentation and indexed lists of culture recipes and stains and reagents as well as film and filmstrip titles and sources. An alphabetized list of the fungi utilized in the Guidebook is included.

Part I on General Information stresses collection from a variety of habitats. Some general hints are given for collection and handling of macrofungi. Isolation of microfungi is outlined with basic information provided on maintenance of preserved and living specimens. A useful discussion of color data ends this part.

The Taxonomic Groups section (Part II) contains 17 chapters. The Groups do not necessarily represent accepted systematic treatment. The usual taxa such as Class or Order are utilized, however, in the ensuing discussion. An apparent attempt is made in an ecological framework to bridge the use of the older term Phycomycetes with recent tendency to renaming smaller component units as Chytridiomycetes, Zygomycetes, etc. One chapter deals with "zoosporic Phycomycetes from Fresh Waters and Soils"; another is entitled "Phycomycetes - Other Aspects"; Plasmodiophora and Trichomycetes are singled

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out for individual treatment. The chapter dealing with Ascomycetes follow a more usual systematic treatment as Hemiascomycetes, Plectomycetes, Pyronymycetes, Discomycetes, Loculoascomycetes, Fungi Imperfecti and Laboulbeniales. Some of these taxa are more well discussed than others. For example the Loculoascomycetes are dispensed with in 6 pages as opposed to 25 pages for the Pyrenomycetes and 30 pages for the Fungi Imperfecti. The Basidiomycetes are well represented by detailed chapters on the Heterobasidiomycetes and the Homobasidiomycetes. In most all these discussions, detailed collection and maintenance data are given and ample species are cited as examples.

Part III on Ecological Groups is organized into two chapters. Biological Associations are discussed, covering mycotic involvement with plants and animals as food (with the exception of human consumption), symbionts and parasites. This treatment may well be one of the most interesting sources of information from the standpoint of enlarging a stereotyped view of fungi as the decayers in an ecosystem. Associations include those with ambrosia beetles, ants, roots in mycorrhizae and algae in lichens. Predaceous fungi and mycotic parasites of insects, other fungi and humans are included. The mention of plant parasites is very brief with reference to another excellent resource. The second chapter on ecological sites includes those in the air, in a marine habitat, in soil, on dung, on burned substrates as well as thermophilic and esmophilic species. A part of this chapter is included on fungi with industrial uses; emphasis is given to by-products such as amylase and penicillin and involvement in degradation of substrata including soybeans and cellulose. The leaf surface is overlooked as a unique mycological habitat al-though this is an upcoming area of fungal ecology.

Fungi are treated as Biological Tools (Part IV) under the headings Mechanisms of Spore Release and Dispersal, Fungal Physiology, Fungal Genetics; a Special Materials heading includes discussion of ascus structure and the stimulus response of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. This section lends support to an experimental approach to mycological instruction and adequately sets forth culture requirements and experimental design data for illustration of phenomena such as light and spore discharge relationships, pigment production, luminescence, sexual agglutination in yeasts and heterothallism in Basidiomycetes. This section would be highly useful to the scientist in search of an experimental organism for a particular purpose.

The literature in the Appendix covers a span of years from 1896 to 1972. The bulk of the literature cited is from the last 20 years; 42% of these more recent references are listed beginning with 1964, the year with the most citations. A literature lag between the March 1974 appearance of the book and the latest year of citation is effectively parlayed from two to three years by citation of no references in 1973 and 1974 and only 5 in 1972. In some instances a discussion is not as up to date as possible. For example, the concept of the bitunicate ascus was sup-ported with a 1967 paper when more recent information was available. The infrequent occurrences of this nature are no doubt due to the logistics of manuscript preparation and publication (a preliminary edition was sent out for review in 1970).

A weakness which might be pointed concerning this mass of relevant teaching data is mentioned in the Preface by the Mycology Guidebook Committee. They write, "The preponderance of examples chosen for this compilation come from U.S. sources, although a number of important items were derived from our overseas colleagues." Indeed, the majority of the contributors were from the USA, with some participation from persons located in Canada (5), Egypt (1), England (4), Greece (1) and Japan (1). A quick scan of the Fungi Cited portion of the Appendix will indicate the lack of tropical examples. Some predominately tropical groups such as the Microthyriales are briefly mentioned in the text; others such as the Meliolales and the Capnodiales which are present in subtropical and tropical areas are not mentioned. A notable exception to the temperate orientation is the discussion of fungi cultivated by leaf cutter ants. The how-to-find-them-and-keep-them-onhand sections of the Guidebook do not mention special problems found in the tropics. However, the obvious temperate bias of the Mycology Guidebook is diluted by the inherent universality of fungi. With some ingenuity, the tropically located mycologist can apply basic collection and maintenance techniques in biological or ecological situations represented in the Guidebook or in unique tropical habitats, and obtain locally derived fungi to illustrate the Taxonomic Groups as well as Fungi as Biological Tools.

The Mycology Guidebook was prepared under the guidance of a committee of six distinguished mycologists who coordinated the contributions of 82 scientists. The Mycology Guidebook is an excellent comprehensive source of information concerning collection and isolation and maintenance and preservation of fungi in biological and ecological situations and as biological tools, which would be useful to mycologists and instructors of mycological courses the world over. Editor and Chairman of the Mycology Guidebook Committee) R. B. Stevens is to be commended on behalf of all involved for organizing what might have been a miscellaneous assemblage of a vast amount of heterogeneous information. Job well done!

Don R. Reynolds Florida Technological University

STEWARD, F. C. (ed.) Plant Physiology. A Treatise.

Volume VIB. Physiology of Development: The Hor-

mones. Academic Press, N.Y. 1972. xviii + 365 p.

illus. $21.00.

Those botanists who are foolhardy enough to write a review usually have enough caution to pick a manageable topic with a reasonable but not overwhelming amount of completed research and a limited range of journals that must be examined. Writing a comprehensive review of topics like water relations, phylogeny, photosynthesis or even mineral nutrition can be expected to take several years, involve hours of frustrating search for a paper that the author vaguely remembers was published in some obscure proceedings of a provincial Academy of Natural Science, and requires the nit-picking decisions of checking citations for accuracy. The financial rewards, if any, rarely pay for the required medicinal alcohol, and as soon as the article appears the author begins to catch flak from colleagues who indignantly demand to know why a pet paper wasn't prominently cited or who have another interpretation of a particular phenomenon. After a all-too-brief period of recovery, the reviewers visiously begin to dissect the work and the author, who has avoided looking at the damn thing since it came out, begins to re-read it and

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discovers typographical errors, clumsy sentence construction and new interpretations. A scientific paper is quickly assimilated into the morass of a field, but reviews are brought up and chewed over for years. Having published four reviews and working on another, I know that I'm a masochist. But to take on plant hormones! Professor Kenneth Thimann, who wrote most of the volume and edited the important contributions of several other plant physiologists has abundantly reaffirmed the affection and respect that has long been accorded him.

Meaningful research in this field is close to a century old and the plant scientists who have contributed to the growth in volume (if not the growth in understanding) of plant hormone research number in the thousands. No one knows how many papers have been published that are directly or indirectly relevant and I doubt if there is a biological journal that hasn't published papers in this area. In addition, there is no comprehensive field theory that can rationalize the mode of action of any of the compounds and the reported interactions are at the level where a computor analysis may be the next step in our at-tempts to make sense out of the topic. Yet, a progress report serves only small audiences and the authors, quite rightly, have a much broader target. As I see it, Thimann, Pagel and West (gibberellians) and Skoog and Schmitz (cytokinins) wanted to provide the historical background and a statement of the status of the field and at the same time, to present their interpretations of the literature and to suggest some leads into future research and future conceptual thinking. This is not a review in the accepted sense nor is it a collection of individual set-pieces. It must, therefore be evaluated as a treatise.

The authors have provided a panorama of the multiple responses of plants and their parts to auxins, gibberellins, ethylene and cytokinins. Reasonable comprehensive, well organized and clearly written, each section and sub-section attempts to indicate what happens, e.g., the phenomenological approach is fundamental. Exposition of bits of technique add little to our understanding of the phenomena, although other details are germane. Even in the extended treatment given phenomena such as cell elongation, there is a tendency to be too didactic, too sure that the representative experiment or test material is a reflection of underlying causation. Is the Avena coleoptile or the pea stem or tobacco pith "typical" in the physiological sense: such questions are not raised. But the student should be appraised that the questions are good and valid ones.

It is, however, at the level of understanding that the volume suffers most. The terminal forty pages is titled, "The Mode of Action of Auxin." Rather than providing in-sights into basic mechanisms, it is the least interesting part of the opus. Indeed, there are single sentences imbedded in the text that more effectively spark thoughts than the section. Professor Thimann has bought the auxin-ethylene duality, but even if this is correct, it has merely added one more penultimate intermediary. Of course, we don't know how auxin acts, any more than we know how gibberellins, cytokinins or even ethylene acts individually or in concert. But devoting a good part of the discussion on mode of action to cell elongation and wall loosening perpetrates the skewing of our thinking that has been only mildly productive. Invocation of the nucleic acid activation model is appropriate but the discussion then apparently forgets the postulated auxin activation of ethylene. Insofar as we now know, it is almost impossible to get pure auxin or GA effects on the comportment of plants, but this important point, made many times throughout the book, is then ignored at the point we need it most in our thinking. Much the same comments can be made about the discussions of gibberellin and cytokinin modes of action, although the cytokinin activation of RNA is on a firmer foundation. Yet one gets the impression that we really do know what we think we know and that the more fundamental questions are yet to be formulated. I worry about the first premise and heartily support the second.

A review is usually ended by making a recommendation. If asked who should be intimately involved with the book, the answer is every plant scientist who works, teaches or thinks about how plants comport them-selves. Knowing the authors, I am sure that they would want the reader to doubt, question, and even argue with data used and not used, the arrangement of the in-formation and the conclusions drawn. This is the purpose of a treatise, and the volume under consideration admirably fulfills its aim. It is far and away the best and most valuable portion of Steward's multi-volumed work and Professors Thimann, Paleg, West, Skoog and Schmitz have done Botany an outstanding service.

Richard M. Klein University of Vermont

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