Volume 29 – Issue 4 (Dec 1964)

Two more paper-backs have joined the rapidly growing list of books in this category of biology texts.

The Plant Kingdom (second edition), by Harold C. Bold is the most recent title to be published in this popular paper-back series. The basic purpose of the Series is to present the rapid-changing subject matter of biology in a series of short, inexpensive, but well-prepared books, adding greater flexibility than can be provided by a single textbook. The subjects are treated almost like magazine articles and new editions are prepared frequently, in the light of constructive criticisms.

A set of valuable small books presenting chemical backgrounds helpful in biology was published last year by W. A. Benjamin, Inc. These books, composing the General Chemistry Monograph Series are as follows: Barrow, The Structure of Molecules; Herz, The Shape of Carbon Compounds; King, How Chemical Reactions Occur; and Mahan, Elementary Chemical Thermodynamics. Each volume was written by a scientist who has done extensive research in his subject.

This little plastic-bound field book is the enlarged successor of a book which was enthusiastically received on its first appearance two years ago. More than 100 species of spring, summer, and fall plants are treated, the concise and sparkling descriptions on the left-hand pages, the beautiful color photographs on the facing pages.

Botanists at Southern Illinois University are rapidly making known the facts concerning the plant life of that part of the State. In 1959 A Flora of Southern Illinois was published and now a general treatment of the vegetation has followed. The plant communities are described as types determined by the habitat.

This beautiful book has already won the Cooley Award for outstanding books in its field and the acclaim of all who have examined it. The author has spent more than 30 years in the study of Florida mosses, in the field, in the herbarium, and in the laboratory, and she has brought to this work the results of her experiences, giving to it a depth and a breadth that would have been impossible otherwise.

This volume gives descriptions and ranges of the 377 species of mosses known for Michigan. In addition, 147 figures, beautifully executed, provide illustrations that admirably assist in the difficult task of identifying mosses. Keys are provided to the genera and species, and a glossary, bibliography and index are other important sections of the book. An introductory portion presents the history of bryological exploration of Michigan and an account of the life history of mosses. A large number of references to treatments of mosses in other works is given. Since many species of mosses have a wide range, this book should be useful in many other states.

This unusual and valuable book contains a vast amount of information concerning the trees, not merely of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but also to a considerable extent of the entire West Indies, and even southern Florida. The book describes in detail 250 species most likely to be seen, and 130 others are mentioned briefly and compared with those treated fully.

This handsome and handy little volume, a companion to the author’s earlier work, Native Wild Plants of Eastern Canada, is a noteworthy contribution to the literature of field botany in North America. It is somewhat of a reversal of many previous works on floristics, which have had titles like Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.

This is a laboratory workbook designed for providing assistance in a botanical study of woody plants. The thin spiral-bound volume contains a remarkably large number of little aids for the study of trees and shrubs, such as a glossary of terms, illustrations of different types of twigs, leaves, etc., and keys to summer and winter characters of many species. The book could be used in any part of the United States, since it treats species from all parts of the country, even including some introduced plants.