Reproductive Biology and Taxonomy of Vascular Plants

Book excerpt: Reproductive Biology and Taxonomy of Vascular Plants is a collection of papers presented at the Conference on Reproductive Biology and Taxonomy of Vascular Plants, held at the Department of Botany, University of Birmingham on April 23-25, 1965. The conference primarily explores the reproductive biology of flowering plants and ferns to arrive at a better understanding of variation patterns and modes of evolution. This book is divided into six chapters and begins with a discussion on the breeding systems, variation and adaptation. The next chapters survey the practical implications of knowledge of breeding systems and other aspects of the reproductive biology of flowering plants, as well as the pollination mechanisms in orchids and the evolution of this family in relation to insect evolution. These chapters include an account of the foraging behavior of honey bees and its importance to the botanist in delineating the behavior of the insects that pollinate the plants. Other chapters deal with the mechanisms of plant dispersal and establishment, the aspects of seed dormancy, and germination and reproductive capacity related to evolutionary processes. The concluding chapters explore the many aspects of apomixis in its wider sense and survey how the variation patterns of apomicts were due to this special mode of reproduction. This book is directed primarily to botanists.