Vascular transport in plants * Holbrook NM, Zwieniecki MA. eds. 2005. * Amsterdam: Elsvier, * Academic Press. {pound}62.99 * (hardback). 564 pp.

This comprehensivecollection of 26 papers on all aspects of function and structureof vascular tissues will be of interest for anyone working inplant structure/function generally, or to specialists dealingwith physiology of water and sugar movement, leaf functions,wood anatomy and ecophysiology. The work of 52 contributors,including the two editors whose     

Abiotic stresses in plants. * Sanita di Toppi L, Pawlik-Skowronska B, eds. 2003. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {pound}67 (hardback). 233 pp

Abiotic stress has a very highprofile in the plant sciences at the moment. The problem offeeding many more people (perhaps 4 to even 6 billion by theend of the century) may have a potential solution in the formof molecular biological manipulation. This, it is frequentlyclaimed, will give plants able to produce large amounts of biomassand edible material with minimal resources under what are, currently,very adverse conditions. Well, is it true? I looked to thisbook to find out more     

Plant nutritional genomics * Broadley MR, White PJ. eds. 2005. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. {pound}115 (hardback). 321 pp.

Plant nutritionis ultimately an applied subject that seeks to understand theprocesses and mechanisms that underpin the uptake, assimilationand internal redistribution of nutrients by plants and thento use this information to improve the yield or quality of harvestedplant parts, be they grains, storage roots or leafy vegetables.The subject now also encompasses the understanding of the responsesof plants to nutrient toxicities (e.g. salinity) as well asnew topics such as metal ‘hyperaccumulation’ and     

The plant cytoskeleton in cell differentiation and development. Annual Plant Reviews, volume 10. * Hussey PJ, ed. 2004. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing/Boca Raton: CRC Press. * {pound}99{middle dot}50 (hardback). 325 pp

Over 40 years ago, in what is surelyone of the most famous ‘throw-away lines’ in botany,Ledbetter and Porter (1963) suggested that the similar orientationsof cytoplasmic microtubules and structures considered to becellulose microfibrils in the cell wall was not coincidental.This notion led almost single-handedly to the present and enduringinterest amongst certain plant cell biologists in understandingthe role of microtubules in wall formation. And as a resultof this intense interest in such matters, it has become clearthat microtubules are not only ‘just one’ componentamongst an ever-expanding array of     

Seeds handbook: biology, production, processing and storage. 2nd edn. * Desai BB. 2004. * New York: Marcel Dekker.{pound}115 (hardback). 787 pp.

This book comprisesfour parts, the first three as identified in the title, anda fourth described as newer seed biotechnologies. Almost halfof the book is devoted to seed production,     

The Biogeochemistry of Submerged Soils. * Kirk, G. 2004. * Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. {pound}100 (hardcover). 304 pp.

One can learn a lot about thegeochemistry of submerged soils in this book by Kirk. However,it is not, as the title implies, focused on the biogeochemistryof all submerged soils. In Chapter 1 Kirk gives a very briefoverview     

An introduction to plant structure and development * Beck CB. 2005. * Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {pound}30.00 (hardback). 464 pp.

This book has beenwritten primarily as a text for a senior plant anatomy course.The initial phrase ‘An introduction to’ is somewhatmisleading as a student would need to have some elementary knowledgeof botany as well as cell structure and physiology to followthe information and the ideas without difficulty. The authordoes     

In the wake of the double helix: from the green revolution to the gene revolution * Tuberosa R, Phillips RL, Gale M. eds. 2005. * Bologna: Avenue Media. {euro}25 (softback). 722 pp.

This volume isthe proceedings of an international congress held at the Universityof Bologna, Italy, 27–31 May 2003. Major sections aredevoted to the architects of the green revolution: biodiversityand germplasm     

The plant cell wall. * Rose JKC, ed 2003. * Oxford: CRC Press. {pound}99.50 (hardback). * 381 pp.

Cell walls have long been recognized as important and uniquefeatures of plant cells, contributing not only to the architectureof plant organs but also to the control of growth, to the exclusionof pathogens and to the production and transmission of signallingmolecules. Gross measurements of plant cell composition establishedlong ago that the plant devotes a large     

Ecological genetics: design, analysis and application. * Lowe A, Harris S, Ashton P. 2004. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. * {pound}29.99 (softback). 344 pp

This book introduces readers toa whole range of topics associated with ecological geneticsby covering such subjects as genetic markers and sampling, geneticdiversity, gene flow, hybridization and phylogeny construction.Within these chapters     

Molecular ecotoxicology of plants. Ecological Studies Vol. 170. * Sandermann H. ed. 2004. * Berlin: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hard cover). 241 pp.

Googling the term‘molecular ecotoxicology’ results in less than 1000hits compared to more than 8·5 million for ‘moleculargenetics’. Hence, we are dealing with a rather new orless well-defined and less propagated field of science. Springer'sbook Molecular ecotoxicology of plants edited by H. Sandermannmay therefore fill a gap and it is unique in focusing on plants.A first introductory chapter sets the stage and tries to definethe term for a broad     

Floral biology, pollination and fertilisation in temperate zone fruit species and grape. * Kozma P, Nyeki J, Soltesz M, Szabo Z. 2003. * Budapest: Akademiai Kiado. $98 (hardback).621 pp.

The primary focus of this book is to discuss the floral biologyof the fruit crops including apple, grape, Ribes, Rubus, strawberry,the stone fruits and several     

Plant ecology. * Schulze ED, Beck E, Muller-Hohenstein K. 2005. Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer. $89{middle dot}95 (hardback). 702 pp.

This book (a translation fromSchulze et al., 2002) is one of the most comprehensive textbooksof plant ecology so far. The authors aim to ‘for the firsttime bring together and clearly organize the large subdisciplinesof plant ecology’ and, to a large extent they have succeeded.The book is well written, and its more than 500 illustrationsare beautifully laid out and well chosen to help the readerunderstand the theory. It is clearly suitable not only     

Margaret Mee's Amazon. Diaries of an artist explorer. * Margaret Mee. 2003. * Woodbridge Suffolk, UK: Antique Collectors' Club. * {pound}29{middle dot}50 (hardback). 320 pp, 400 colour illustrations

‘Delight’ said CharlesDarwin in his diaries in 1832, ‘is a weak term to expressthe feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wanderedby himself in a Brazilian forest’. These feelings musthave been those which drove Margaret Mee to explore the Brazilianjungles on numerous expeditions between 1958 and 1964, creatingwonderful pictures despite all kinds of difficulties encounteredin this hostile world. And these feelings were also those Ihad when I read this book: delight about her precise drawingsand life-like paintings, which are extremely expressive from     

Roots: the dynamic interface between plants and the Earth. * Abe J, ed. 2003. * Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. * {euro}165 (hardback). 460 pp

All but five of the 46 contributionsin this symposium volume have been published already as a specialissue in Volume 255 of Plant and Soil in 2003. They are reproducedin exactly the same format and with the same pagination as inthe journal. To anyone who has access to Plant and Soil thisbook would therefore not be a sensible purchase. This is allthe more true because the editor has not provided any commentaryon the papers or subdivided them     

'Nonparametric inference in multivariate mixtures' * Biometrika (2005), 92, pp. 667 678

The left-hand side of equation (2·8), on p. 671, shouldread {₁ (1 – ₁)}^–1/2 (2₁ – 1) rather than{(1 – ₁)/₁}^1/2 (2₁ – 1). Reflecting this change,the left-hand side of equation (3·1) on the same pageshould be altered to , and the formula at the foot of p. 677 should be modified to {₁ (1– ₁)}^–1/2 (2₁ – 1) + O_p(n^–1/2). No otherformula is affected, and the left-hand side of (2·8)is still increasing in ₁. The numerical results, discussed in4, are influenced in minor ways. In the simulation study, absolutebias is reduced, and variance is either slightly increased orslightly decreased. In the real-data example, using the nonparametricapproach to analysis, mean squared error is further reduced,from 0·0011 to 0·0004. We are grateful to HiroKasahara and Katsumi Shimotsu for pointing out the error.     

Instant notes in plant biology, 2nd edn. * Lack A, Evans D. 2005. * Oxford: Taylor and Francis. {pound}18.99 (paperback). 351 pp.

The ‘InstantNotes’ series from Bios will probably be familiar to manyreaders. The series' success is evident in the second editionsthat are appearing, e.g. the current volume—albeit nowunder the Taylor and Francis label. Content This book does what it says on the label; it provides noteson (probably) all of the topics within the compass of present-day‘plant biology’. Primarily, it deals with anatomy,growth and development, physiology, reproduction, and economicuses and ecology of flowering plants (angiosperms). However,it does cover other phyla of the Kingdom Plantae (principallyin two ‘taxonomy/evolution’ sections), and algae(along     

Plant-pollinator interactions: from specialization to generalization * Waser NM, Ollerton J. eds. 2006. * Chicago: Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. $45 (paperback). 488 pp.

Highly specializedpollination systems, such as figs and their wasp or orchidsthat deceive bees in trying to make them mate with their floralorgans, are intuitively appealing to most people and have, therefore,gained far more attention both in popular and scientific literaturethan the more generalized pollination systems. For a long timethe dominant view was that many, or perhaps even most, plant–pollinatorinteractions were specialized. In 1996 Waser and his colleaguestried to stir things up by writing an article in which theyargued that, in contrast to common belief, generalization waswidespread in plant–pollinator systems. Ten     

Methods in molecular biology, volume 286. Transgenic plants. Methods and protocols. * Pena L, ed. 2005. * Totowa, New Jersey: Humana Press. $115 (hardback). 448 pp

This publication has much to offerin terms of valuable information for the student beginning ontheir quest for knowledge, but also for the more experiencedscientist in terms of emphasizing the problems and subsequentconsequences of the generation of transgenic crops. The bookbegins with