Main description:
Plant Systematics contains the essential paradigms, concepts, and terms required for a basic understanding of plant systematics at the graduate or undergraduate level. Plant systematics is an area central to numerous other biological disciplines, and a large subset of plant scientists are required to take a course in plant systematics. Almost all ecologists, horticulturalists, plant developmental biologists, and plant pathologists are interested in plant systematics because it is central to their studies of the plants that form such a large part of every ecosystem and experimental system.
- The Henry Allan Gleason Award of The New York Botanical Garden, awarded for "Outstanding recent publication in the field of plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography" (2006)
- Contains numerous cladograms that illustrate the evolutionary relationships of major plant groups, with an emphasis on the adaptive significance of major evolutionary novelties
- Provides descriptions and classifications of major groups of angiosperms, including over 90 flowering plant families
- Includes a comprehensive glossary of plant morphological terms as well as appendices on botanical illustration and plant description
Review quote:
"Michael Simpson has achieved the Herculean task of bringing together within a single book the many subdisciplines of Botany that are embraced by the ever-broadening field of Plant Systematics. Within these pages are detailed chapters focusing on plant structure and the terminology used to describe plants, the evolution and classification of plants based on the most up-to-date information, and an introduction to the plant systematists toolbox including chapters on herbarium management, specimen collection, molecular techniques, and fundamentals of nomenclature. As if this were not enough, the book is generously illustrated with full color plates that bring each topic to life. The botanical community has been waiting for a textbook like this for a long time the wait is finally over!" - Kenneth M. Cameron, The New York Botanical Garden, U.S.A.
"This is an "enabling" book on many levels. The labeled photographs of dissections and other structural details will speed mastery of plant diversity by students, as will the eclectic assortment of exemplar species pictured. The presentations of phylogenetic and molecular systematics give an accessible introduction to these complex and rapidly changing methodologies which pervade the modern systematic literature. Unit IV and the Appendices provide students with an instruction manual to guide them in systematic research of their own.
Simpson also places plant systematics within the larger context of plant biology by relating taxonomic characters to, for example, molecular models of floral development, assessment of plant breeding system ecology, and the physiology of alternative photosynthetic pathways. This allows students and non-systematists to see that these aspects of plant biology have evolutionary dimensions as well." - David M. Johnson, Ohio Wesleyan University, U.S.A.
"I am impressed and excited about this book. I am impressed, because Mike Simpson has authored a comprehensive, up to date, user friendly, and profusely illustrated textbook that will facilitate the teaching of plant systematics. The organization, breadth of topics, and illustrations are truly exceptional; Dr. Simpson has "raised the bar" in terms of textbook quality and scope. I am excited, because this book undoubtedly will serve as a valuable teaching and learning resource for the college classroom. Instructors and students will love this book, especially with its wealth of images, clarity of presentation, and review questions and exercises after each chapter." - Wayne J. Elisens, University of Oklahoma, Norman, U.S.A.
Table of contents:
Preface
UNIT 1. SYSTEMATICS
1. Plant Systematics: An Overview
2. Phylogenetic Systematics
UNIT 2. EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY OF PLANTS
3. Evolution and Diversity of Green and Land Plants
4. Evolution and Diversity of Vascular Plants
5. Evolution and Diversity of Woody and Seed Plants
6. Evolution of Flowering Plants
7. Diversity of Flowering Plants: Amborellales, Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, and Monocots
8. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Eudicots
UNIT 3. SYSTEMATIC EVIDENCE AND DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY
9. Plant Morphology
10. Plant Anatomy
11. Plant Embryology
12. Palynology
13. Plant Reproductive Biology
14. Plant Molecular Systematics
UNIT 4. RESOURCES IN PLANT SYSTEMATICS
15. Plant Identification
16. Plant Nomenclature
17. Plant Collecting and Documentation
18. Herbaria and Data Information Systems
Appendix 1. Plant Description
Appendix 2. Botanical Illustrations
Appendix 3. Scientific Journals in Plant Systematics
Glossary
Index
Plant Systematics contains the essential paradigms, concepts, and terms required for a basic understanding of plant systematics at the graduate or undergraduate level. Plant systematics is an area central to numerous other biological disciplines, and a large subset of plant scientists are required to take a course in plant systematics. Almost all ecologists, horticulturalists, plant developmental biologists, and plant pathologists are interested in plant systematics because it is central to their studies of the plants that form such a large part of every ecosystem and experimental system.
- The Henry Allan Gleason Award of The New York Botanical Garden, awarded for "Outstanding recent publication in the field of plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography" (2006)
- Contains numerous cladograms that illustrate the evolutionary relationships of major plant groups, with an emphasis on the adaptive significance of major evolutionary novelties
- Provides descriptions and classifications of major groups of angiosperms, including over 90 flowering plant families
- Includes a comprehensive glossary of plant morphological terms as well as appendices on botanical illustration and plant description
Review quote:
"Michael Simpson has achieved the Herculean task of bringing together within a single book the many subdisciplines of Botany that are embraced by the ever-broadening field of Plant Systematics. Within these pages are detailed chapters focusing on plant structure and the terminology used to describe plants, the evolution and classification of plants based on the most up-to-date information, and an introduction to the plant systematists toolbox including chapters on herbarium management, specimen collection, molecular techniques, and fundamentals of nomenclature. As if this were not enough, the book is generously illustrated with full color plates that bring each topic to life. The botanical community has been waiting for a textbook like this for a long time the wait is finally over!" - Kenneth M. Cameron, The New York Botanical Garden, U.S.A.
"This is an "enabling" book on many levels. The labeled photographs of dissections and other structural details will speed mastery of plant diversity by students, as will the eclectic assortment of exemplar species pictured. The presentations of phylogenetic and molecular systematics give an accessible introduction to these complex and rapidly changing methodologies which pervade the modern systematic literature. Unit IV and the Appendices provide students with an instruction manual to guide them in systematic research of their own.
Simpson also places plant systematics within the larger context of plant biology by relating taxonomic characters to, for example, molecular models of floral development, assessment of plant breeding system ecology, and the physiology of alternative photosynthetic pathways. This allows students and non-systematists to see that these aspects of plant biology have evolutionary dimensions as well." - David M. Johnson, Ohio Wesleyan University, U.S.A.
"I am impressed and excited about this book. I am impressed, because Mike Simpson has authored a comprehensive, up to date, user friendly, and profusely illustrated textbook that will facilitate the teaching of plant systematics. The organization, breadth of topics, and illustrations are truly exceptional; Dr. Simpson has "raised the bar" in terms of textbook quality and scope. I am excited, because this book undoubtedly will serve as a valuable teaching and learning resource for the college classroom. Instructors and students will love this book, especially with its wealth of images, clarity of presentation, and review questions and exercises after each chapter." - Wayne J. Elisens, University of Oklahoma, Norman, U.S.A.
Table of contents:
Preface
UNIT 1. SYSTEMATICS
1. Plant Systematics: An Overview
2. Phylogenetic Systematics
UNIT 2. EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY OF PLANTS
3. Evolution and Diversity of Green and Land Plants
4. Evolution and Diversity of Vascular Plants
5. Evolution and Diversity of Woody and Seed Plants
6. Evolution of Flowering Plants
7. Diversity of Flowering Plants: Amborellales, Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, and Monocots
8. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Eudicots
UNIT 3. SYSTEMATIC EVIDENCE AND DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY
9. Plant Morphology
10. Plant Anatomy
11. Plant Embryology
12. Palynology
13. Plant Reproductive Biology
14. Plant Molecular Systematics
UNIT 4. RESOURCES IN PLANT SYSTEMATICS
15. Plant Identification
16. Plant Nomenclature
17. Plant Collecting and Documentation
18. Herbaria and Data Information Systems
Appendix 1. Plant Description
Appendix 2. Botanical Illustrations
Appendix 3. Scientific Journals in Plant Systematics
Glossary
Index