FLORAL MECHANISM 
By A. H. CHURCH, M.A., D.Sc. 
LECTURER IN BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
The following statement has been drawn up by 
Professor Sydney H. Vines 
T HE object of this work is to provide the botanical student with a complete de- 
scription of the development, morphology and mechanism of the principal 
types of flowers. Whilst giving the kind of information that is to be found in Payer’s 
Organogenie de la Fleur , and in the late Professor Eichler’s well-known Bliithendia - 
gramme , it supplements this with an account of the ecology of the flower, including 
pollination and the formation of fruit and seed. Hence, when complete, it will be 
the most comprehensive treatise on the flower that has yet been published. 
The general plan of the work may be gathered from Part I, which was published 
in 1908 as a royal 4_to volume of 211 pages. In it are described the following twelve 
types of floral structure, selected from familiar garden flowers that bloom in the 
early part of the year (January-April) : — 
Helleborus niger . . Christmas Rose. Viola odorata Sweet Violet. 
Galanthus nivalis . . Snowdrop. Narcissus Pseudo-Narcissus Daffodil. 
Jasminum nudiflorum White Jasmine. Erica carnea Heath. 
Crocus vernus . . . Blue Crocus. Ribes sanguineum .... Flowering Currant. 
Richardia africana . White Arum Lily. Cydonia japonica .... Scarlet Cydonia. 
Daphne Mezereum . Mezereon. Vinca major Greater Periwinkle. 
In connexion with each type, two or three allied species are described for 
purposes of comparison. 
The description of each type is illustrated by a full-page coloured plate, giving 
an accurate longitudinal section of the flower, and by a black-and-white plate giving 
the inflorescence, the floral diagram, and other structural details. As each subsidiary 
species has also a coloured plate allotted to it, the volume contains no less than forty 
coloured and fourteen uncoloured plates, in addition to a large number of figures, 
chiefly developmental, included in the text. It can be obtained at the original price 
of £1 is. net by subscribers to Part II. 
It was hoped that the reception of so striking a volume as Part I would have 
been such as to justify the Delegates of the Press in proceeding forthwith to publish 
Part II, the material for which is in readiness. Inasmuch as this anticipation has 
unfortunately not been realized so far, the Delegates are not disposed to under- 
take the publication of Part II without some assurance that the necessarily large 
expenditure involved will meet with the general support of those who, in one way 
or another, are interested in flowers. But the University Press has received such 
warm commendations of the work from Botanists who desire to push on the study 
of Botany in the English-speaking countries that they desire, if possible, to continue 
publication. They propose, therefore, to ask for subscriptions for copies of Part II 
at One Guinea each, on the understanding that Part II will, like Part I, consist of 
descriptions of twelve types of flowers, with allied forms, and be similarly illustrated, 
though it may be found necessary to reduce somewhat the number of coloured 
plates. Any copies not subscribed for will not be sold at less than thirty shillings each. 
Science Progress : — 1 Without doubt one of the most interesting botanical books of recent 
years, and one which in its turn should become a classic.’ 
Journal of Botany : — 1 In noticing this very beautiful and elaborate work, one remark seems 
obvious — there is nothing else like it.’ 
Nature:— 1 ’ A valuable contribution to botanical literature, excellent alike in the text and in 
the illustrations, and the execution is worthy of the Clarendon Press. ... No botanical school 
can afford to neglect so valuable and suggestive a storehouse of information.’ 
Order Forms may be had on application. 
