CURRENT LITERATURE 
BOOK REVIEWS 
Botany of crop plants 
A notable impetus to the study of botany in agricultural colleges and to 
the study of agricultural plants and problems in botanical departments gen- 
erally is bound to be given by Rossrns’ recent volume on the botany of crop 
plants. About 70 pages are devoted to a brief summation of some of the more 
important topics in general botany, under the headings: the seed plant body, 
fundamental internal structures, roots, stems, ree flowers, fruits, seeds and 
seedlings, and the classification and naming of plants. The body of the book 
presents in compact and pleasing form the eas features of our chief crop 
plants, arranged in the familiar taxonomic sequence from grasses to composites. 
For each crop there is a discussion of the chief botanical features relating to 
habit, structure, and behavior, a classification (often with a key), a considera- 
tion of the chief uses, and a list of the more important references. Asa sample 
of the mode of treatment we may take corn, to which 35 pages are devoted. 
The a eae headings under corn oi habit of pen mes sgn prop roots, 
stem, leaves, i , staminate let, pistillate 
inflorescence, pistillate spikelet, hermaphroditic flowers, opening of the flowers 
pollination, fertilization and development of the grain, xenia, variation, 
sisi of self-fertilization, the mature grain, corn starch, germination, classi- 
fication, origin, environmental relations, uses, production, and references. 
The compactness and up-to-dateness of the information in this book are 
among its most commendable features. It is doubtful if there is any other 
place where one may find so quickly and satisfactorily botanical information 
about our common crops. While the volume was written primarily as a text- 
book for botanical courses in agricultural colleges, a field which was far from 
adequately filled, this book should be on the shelf of every botanical teacher 
and investigator, because of its value as a source of ready and reliable informa- 
tion. The publishers also may be commended for the neat and pleasing 
appearance which the book presents.—H. C. Cow Les. 
MINOR NOTICES 
Flora of Bermuda.—Britron’ has published an illustrated Flora of Ber- 
muda which is attractive in appearance and unusually inclusive in its contents. 
The land area is a little over 19 square miles, or about one-fourth the size of 
* Rossins, W. W., The botany of crop plants. pp. xix+681. figs. 263. Blakiston’s 
Son & Co. Philadelphia. IQI7 
2 BRITTON, NATHANIEL cae. Flora of Bermuda. 8vo. xi+585. figs. 519. New 
York: Scribner’ s Sons. 1918. $4.50. 
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