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     

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,     

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     

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     

Ethics for life scientists. * Korthals M, Bogers RJ. eds. 2005. * Berlin: Springer. $59{middle dot}95 (paperback). 236 pp.

The motivationfor producing this book is summed up in its last chapter byone of the editors: ‘Life sciences concentrate on lifeand death; this simple statement stands for most of the urgentethical problems these sciences are confronted with ... Thelife sciences cannot escape from ethical issues, controversies,dilemmas even ... In this collection of papers we have intensivelydiscussed the new and often uncertain aspects of     

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     

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     

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     

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     

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     

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     

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     

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     

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     

Sulfur transport and assimilation in plants: regulation, interaction and signaling. * Davidian J-C, Grill D, De Kok LJ, Stulen I, Hawkesford MJ, Schnug E, Rennenberg H, eds. 2003. * Leiden: Backhuys Publishers. {euro}96 (hardback). 393 pp.

Sulphur metabolism of plants (I'll stick with British Englishspelling here) has always received less attention and attractedless funding than has research on nitrogen and phosphorus. Oneof the most important reasons no doubt is that, unlike nitrogenand phosphorus, sulphur availability to plants was rarely aproblem. As the post-World War II use of fertilizer     

Vascular organization of angiosperms. A new vision * Andre J.-P. 2005. Enfield, New Hampshire: Science Publishers, Inc. $59.50 (hardback), $39.0 (paperback). 140 pp.

The technique ofmicrocasting to unravel certain aspects of the three-dimensionalanatomy of animals (especially man) and plants goes back a longtime, but it is only recently that it has been perfected intoa fine art and a useful operational tool in plant anatomy, moreor less simultaneously by Jean-Pierre André in Franceand by Tomoyuki Fujii and co-workers in     

Interactive flora of the British Isles: a digital encyclopedia. * Stace C, van der Meijden R, Kort I. 2004. * University of Amsterdam: ETI(Expert Center for TaxonomicIdentification). {pound}37.50 (DVD-ROM).

This DVD-ROM isa computerized version of Clive Stace's New Flora of the BritishIsles (1997, Cambridge University Press), with distributionmaps from the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora (Prestonet al., 2002, Oxford University Press). In addition, the DVDhas more than 6500 colour photographs by 100 different photographersand over 2000 line drawings, mostly from the flora but alsofrom BSBI Handbooks, Watsonia and BSBI News (all publicationsof the Botanical Society of the British Isles). All the vascularplants (pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms) in the regionare covered, i.e. 3525 species in 166 families. The DVD enablesthe user to identify virtually any plant growing in