6. The mechanism of action of plant growth hormones 



Despite Its small size, this book provides a good, and above 

 all, modern overview of the properties and activities . of those 

 classes of substances known to regulate plant growth and differ- 

 entiation. Par from being a mere compilation of facts, it pro- 

 vides a coherent picture of present knowledge in this field, and 

 particularly of Important advances made in the last few years. 

 Much emphasis is placed on methods and their limitations, and 

 contradictory results and conclusions are not evaded. 



The organization of the book will be clear from the taole of 

 contents above. In the last chapter particular attention is de- 

 voted to the still unresolved question whether plant hormones 

 may act at the level of transcription or translation of genetic 

 Information. 



No literature is cited in the text, but all chapters are fol- 

 lowed Dy selected lists of further^ readings . Most illustrations 

 are taken from original research papers; the sources are always 

 stated and provide a further entry into the literature. The Dook 

 seems rather expensive for its plain production. 



Monographs 



84. 



F.C. STEWARD and A .D . KRIKORIAN. 1971. PLANTS, CHEMICALS AND 



GROWTH 



Academic Press, New York, etc. XIV, 232 pp., 74 figs., 7 tabs., 



subject index. $ 7.50 (cloth), $ 4.50 (paper) 



Contents: 1. Some chemical regulators: some biological re- 

 sponses; 2. The totlpotency of cells and their exogenous regu- 

 lation; 3. History and modern concepts of growth-regulating 

 substances; 4. The induction of growth in quiescent cells; 

 5. Some growth regulatory systems; 6. Growth-regulating ef- 

 fects in free cell systems: morphogenesis; 7. The range of 

 biologically active compounds; 8. What do the growth-regula- 

 ting substances do?; 9. Concepts and Interpretations of growth 

 regulation; 10. Prospects and problems 



This book by two outstanding experts in the field of plant 

 growth and development is not intended as "yet another compen- 

 dium" of growth substances out aims at presenting a "philosopy 

 of the suDject". The treatment is broadly Dlological and starts 

 from the conviction that plants and plant cells can only oe un- 

 derstood as complex integrated systems. The emphasis is on the 

 multivariate responsive properties of plant cells, the most 

 striking of which is developmental totlpotency, and on the deli- 

 cate chemical requirements for the expression of these proper- 

 ties . 



The book is well written and the clear organization saves the 

 reader from being swamped Dy the enormous amount of facts. The 

 treatment is imaginative and the authors repeatedly make an ef- 

 fort to point out alternative interpretations and unsolved prob- 

 lems. The suggested action of growth substances at the gene level 

 is critically discussed, leading to the tentative conclusion 

 that the level of control is probably largely epigenetic. In 

 this connection some data from animal systems are also discussed. 



The book is profusely illustrated and the fullness of its doc- 

 umentation is reflected in the 30-page bibliography. 



46 



