2 36 THE PLANT WORLD 



in the school-room and will solve successfully the problem of an adequate 

 elementary laboratory training for the lower grades. f. h. k. 



The Classification of Flowering Plants. — ^y Alfred Barton Rendle. 

 Vol 1., Gymnosperms and Monocotyledons. Cambridge University 

 Press. London: C. J. Clay & Sons; New York: The MacMillan 

 Company, 1904. 



Previous reviewers of this work have borne testimony to its accuracy 

 of description, its scholarly treatment, and especially to the general ex- 

 cellence of the historical sketch with which it is introduced. We consider 

 the most valuable feature of the book to be that it presents a detailed 

 classification of the seed plants from the phylogenetic standpoint, and it 

 is refreshing to find that the terminology no longer savors of the antique. 

 Analogies and homologies are carefully drawn, and the highly specialized 

 reproductive organs of the sporophyte are no longer treated as if they 

 were objects of special creation. To be sure, as one reviewer has pointed 

 out, there is still a tendency to refer to stamens as " male " and pistils as 

 " female " organs, but this is a concession to popular understanding and 

 does not reflect upon Mr. Rendle's scholarship. 



In the matter of classification, the book follows the prevailing tone of 

 British conservatism in the matter of family and ordinal lines, though the 

 sequence and nomenclature is in the main that of Engler. We fail to see 

 why the various categories are not made consistent in their termination, 

 the advantages of the termination -aceae for families and -ales for orders 

 being so apparent as scarcely to require demonstration. 



The excellent text figures with which the book is illustrated will 

 enhance its value to students. We know of no other single reference 

 book in the Englinh language containing complete descriptions of all the 

 families of seed plants with the exception of the series published in this 

 magazine a few years ago, which were written for popular rather than 

 professional use. For this reason the concluding portion of Mr. Rendle's 

 valuable contribution to the literature of our science will be awaited with 

 eager interest. ;• R. T. 



