HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION IN PLANTS (CLASSIC REPRINT)

Excerpt from Heredity and Evolution in PlantsChapters X, Geographical Distribution, and XIII, The Great Groups of Plants, and the Bibliography are new. N o attempt has been made to cite the voluminous periodical literature in the Bibliography, but needless to state, this has been freely consulted and drawn upon. Numerous citations are given as foot-notes, especially in Chapter X.In going over the chapters it also became evident that since, in order to read them understandingly, one must have a clear conception of the facts of the lift history of a vascular plant, it would be best to introduce from the Fundamentals of Botany the three chapters (viz. XII XIV) on the life history of the fern. As stated in the Preface to that book, while the ultimate problem of botany is the development of the kingdom of plants, the more immediate and fundamental problem is the development of the individual plant. Ontogeny is fundamental because without a knowledge of its processes the processes of phylogeny cannot be comprehended. Phylogeny is the ultimate problem because its complete solution in volves an orderly description of all the phenomena of plant life, and their relation to each other.The author is specially indebted to Dr. 0. E. White, curator of plant breeding in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, for a careful reading of the entire manuscript and for many valuable suggestions, also to Mr. Norman Taylor, curator of plants, in connection with Chapter X, and to Dr. Alfred Gundersen, associate curator of plants in the same institution, for numerous constructive criticisms in connection with Chapter XIII. The diagram show ing the apparent affinities and approximate geological distribution of the main groups of vascular plants (p.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses