FLOWERING HORMONE MOVEMENT AND ACTION 203 



The Present and The Future 



In the field of classification of the many response types, there is 

 still a long way to go. Almost any species can be studied in just a 

 little more detail to yield considerable information about responses 

 to changing temperatures, special light qualities, etc. It may be many 

 years before we can properly evaluate the relationship between 

 biological diversity and uniformity. There is also much to learn 

 about the ecological aspects of the flowering process. Based upon 

 work on the many response types, we should be able to gain more 

 and more understanding concerning the specific adaptations of the 

 members of a plant community. 



In physiological fields, we are advancing rapidly. We seem to be 

 approaching some sort of understanding of the response to cold. 

 Work with the gibberellins and other extracts should lead in the near 

 future to improved concepts of how plants respond to cold by being 

 converted to the induced state. Advances in biochemistry may take 

 us ever closer to an understanding of the preparation for response to 

 photoperiod and of the metabolic pathways involved in synthesis of 

 the flowering hormone. Extraction and characterization of phyto- 

 chrome is surely one of the most significant steps in recent years. If 

 present preliminary reports on the extraction of the flowering 

 hormone bear fruit, we might expect rapid advances in our overall 

 understanding of the biochemistry of the flowering process, although 

 the nature of the induced state may prove to be somewhat refractory. 

 The work summarized above might even indicate that the fundamental 

 problem of transformation of the meristems could yield to solution 

 in the forseeable future. We at least have some reasonable bio- 

 chemical ideas about these fields. 



Perhaps the most perplexing frontier at present concerns time 

 measurement. Discovery of phytochrome and work on other 

 possible pigment systems form necessary background, but at this 

 moment the real nature of timing seems to have completely eluded 

 us. New concepts and approaches are needed in this field. Perhaps 

 the proven methods of environmental manipulations with whole 

 plants and finally extractions for biochemical study are unequal to 

 the task of understanding timing. New concepts of both methodology 

 and life function may have to be developed. 



We live in exciting times. There is much left to learn about biology 



