172 



Jones's Introduction to Floral Mechanism* 



Joseph Ewan 



There is a scarcity of recent Hterature available in English upon 

 angiosperm morphology. The best known source-book, which still 

 remains the classic though practically unobtainable, is Coulter and 

 Chamberlain's Morphology of Angiosperms. Recent synoptical 

 reviews such as that of Wilson and Just in Botanical Review have 

 marked out the more recent controversies and literature. But it is 

 an event to welcome the present text in this field. The book is the 

 outgrowth of the need for a text for "first-year university stu- 

 dents" at the University of Glasgow. 



The book is divided into two parts. Part One consists of gen- 

 eral, often too sketchy, discussions and definitions of such essen- 

 tial considerations in the field as "The Flower," "Floral Construc- 

 tion and Symmetry," "Pollination," "Heredity and Evolution" and 

 many others, extending over 143 pages. This section might advan- 

 tageously be recast in a future edition, elaborating upon the funda- 

 mentals, such as the "Development of Flower" and "Fertilization," 

 and eliminating entirely such discussions as the "Mechanism of 

 Inheritance" and "Hybridization and Improvement of Cultivated 

 Plants" — topics which do not properly come under the major sub- 

 ject of the book. 



The second portion of this text, which represents the more 

 important contribution to the field of floral morphology, covers 

 twenty-one selected families of angiosperms famihar to students of 

 courses in "Local Flora." The number of clear and well-reproduced 

 zinco cuts throughout the text will attract the reader at once. These 

 figures, often full page and illustrating plant species little featured 

 in the literature, will prove especially useful in courses in systematic 

 botany. The drawings of Silene infiata, Lychnis dioica, Ulex 

 europaeus, Anthriscus sylvestris, Veronica Chamaedrys, and Orchis 

 maculata are welcome additions to our teaching materials. The fig- 

 ures are often badly crowded and poorly placed on the page. It does 

 not seem to be realized that figures may be cut apart and reoriented 

 though crowded on the original bristolboards by the artist. If this 

 is done before the cuts are made the results on the final pages 

 will amply repay the effort. The legends for the figures are espe- 



* Introduction to Floral Mechanism. S. G. Jones, xi + 274 pp. Chemical 

 Publishing Co. of New York, Inc. 1939. $4.00. 



