Plant Anatomy
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Date
2019Author
Crang†, Richard
Lyons-Sobaski, Sheila
Wise, Robert
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Show full item recordAbstract
The science of plant anatomy extends back
to the late seventeenth century and, by
now, spans over 300 years and encompasses
hundreds of thousands of reports in
the scientific literature. The early plant
anatomy research was summarized in
1899 by Dr. Hans Solereder in his two volume
work entitled Systematische Anatomie
der Dicotyledonen: Ein Handbuch für Laboratorien
der wissenschaftlichen und angewandten
Botanik. The 1908 English
translation by Boodle, Fritsch, and Scott
remains as fresh, informative, and useful
today as when it was published over
100 years ago. Several important texts were
published in the 1950s. The two-volume
work of Metcalfe and Chalk, Anatomy of
the Dicotyledons (1950) with second editions
in 1979 (Volume 1) and 1983 (Volume
2), is a thorough survey of anatomical
traits and features arranged by family.
Some of the taxonomy has been rearranged,
but the anatomical references
remain accurate and valuable. The year
1953 saw the publication of the first edition
of the classic Plant Anatomy by Katherine
Esau. Encyclopedic in its coverage,
insightful in interpretation, and complete
in its synthesis, “Esau” (as it has been
referred to by several generations of botanists)
remains a go-to reference to this day.
A second edition was released in 1977 and
Dr. Ray Evert authored the third, revised
edition, published in 2006. Additionally,
the 1988 Plant Anatomy by Dr. James
Mauseth and Dr. Avraham Fahn’s 1967
Plant Anatomy (4th edition in 1990)
belong on every plant anatomist’s book
shelf as valuable references.