Date: Sun, 14 Jun 1998 21:57:42 -0400 From: Jack Sullivan <jsulliva@eclipse.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2028$foo@default> Subject: Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers
This wonderful book, authored by Peter K. Andress (Institute of
Systematic Botany, University of Zurich), was recently obtained in
paperback at Borders. Even though basically a graduate-level botany
text, it's a personal library "must add" for anyone with a serious
interest in flower biology, structure and organization, evolution and
pollination mechanisms.
To quote from the blurb on the back cover: "The study of flowers
provides a unique insight into the biology and evolution of flowering
plants as a whole. The comparative study of flowers began in temperate
regions and as a consequence most books on flowers are concerned with
temperate plants. In contrast, this volume concentrates on tropical
flowers which, whilst sharing many of the features seen in temperate
flowers, exhibit phenomena which are purely tropical.
"The first part of the volume deals with general structural and
biological features of flowers and shows facets of their diversity. The
second part focuses on the flowers of selected tropical plants and
emphasizes their structural and biological idiosyncrasies and
evolutionary features. New trends in the study of floral evolution and
the role of flowers in the study of flowering plant phylogeny are also
outlined."
Of particular interest to students of stapeliads and other asclepiads is
the 18 page section on the Ascelepiadaceae. The line drawings and
scanning electron photomicrographs are excellent.
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-56510-3. 1994. 511 pp. Price:
about $30.
-- Jack Sullivan
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