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Fertilization in Higher Plants
333 Descriptions of 195 species are presented, the majority of angiosperms, 13 of gymnosperms and 4 of ferns. Leguminosae are represented by 37, Melastomaceae by 14 and Palmae b y 14 species, the remaining families by less than 10 species each. D o c u m e n t a t i o n of the material studied is complete. Descriptions and illustrations are mainly based on light microscopical observations in keeping with the identification purpose of the atlas. However, in many cases valuable supplement~aT data are added based upon scanning and transmission electron micrQscopical studies. The illustrations are of high quality and mostly show the morphologic detail referred to in the descriptions. Since the latter have been contributed by 28 authors, a certain lack of uniformity was inevitable, especially as regards terminology. In some cases palynologists n o t familiar with the French language may have to resort to a dictionary (e.g. "cr~pie" and "grumeleux", p.18). The treatment of exine stratification reflects the varying degree of detailedness of the observations. For Cycadaceae it is stated that a footlayer is absent and endexine present, for Palmae the footlayer is present and endexine absent; for Saxifragaceae and Umbelliferae the difficulties of differentiating between the two are stressed. However, in some other descriptions the endexine is either n o t mentioned at all or referred to as "endexine", "endexine s.l." or "endexine s.str.". This emphasizes our basic ignorance of detailed exine stratification especially in many tropical taxa. In some cases descriptions are based on non-acetolysed pollen. In general the atlas contains much valuable information and many interesting African pollen types are described here for the first time. The illustrations are especially abundant and of high quality, each species being represented by series of photomicrographs, which will be very helpful for identification purposes. The "Association des Palynologues de Langue Franqaise" under whose auspices this work has been produced, is to be congratulated on the magnificent result, which is being sold at the bargain price of Frs. 60.00. J. MULLER (Leiden)
Fertilization in Higher Plants. H.F. Linskens (Editor). North-Holland/ American Elsevier, Amsterdam and New York, 1974, 373 pp., Dfl. 70 (US $26.95). This b o o k records the proceedings of the International S y m p o s i u m on Fertilization in Higher Plants held at Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 28--30, 1974. It contains 43 articles whose authors are drawn from several European countries, United States and India. The considerations that determined the organization of this symposium are set forth in a brief introductory article by the Editor. In short, it is intended to give a greater appreciation of the fact that food products used by man are derived from fertilization products of higher plants and to stress the importance of reinforcing basic research in this area of plant science on a wider scale than before.
334 Interest in the basic processes involved in fertilization in higher plants has been stimulated in recent years by the discovery of in vitro pollination and fertilization, increasing application of the electron microscope in the analysis of the structure of the egg and sperm and the use of pollen grains in biochemically oriented physiological studies. Many of the papers presented at the Symposium touch on these themes. In addition, there are papers dealing with pollen germination, plastid evolution in pollen grains, isolation of pollen protoplasts and pollen incompatibility and sterility. Abnormalities and disturbances that occur during gamete maturation and fertilization are also covered in some detail in this volume.The contributions are arranged within seven broad headings: Pollen genetics, Gamete maturation, The progamic phase, The fusion, Phylogenetic aspects of fertilization, Incompatibility, and Disturbed gamete maturation and fertilization. Like many other symposium issues, this one also suffers from the drawback that it reads like the enlarged issue of a journal with no continuity of thought or thread of argument to be followed. The papers appearing here fall into several categories. Some, like those by Vasil, Johri and Shivanna, Ryczkowski and Batygina are clearly review t y p e of articles. The data of some articles have been previously published b u t are presented here in a different format; still others present a mixture of published and unpublished materials. Finally, there are one or t w o articles which appear to be no more than abstracts. In this regard the reviewer cannot help wishing that papers in the last category had n o t been included in the published volume. Despite the lack of consistency, the first three categories of papers contribute significantly as an up-todate account of the structural, genetic, physiological and biochemical aspects of fertilization in angiosperms. The Editor's statement in the Preface that the contributions have n o t been reviewed before printing merits some critical attention. While this is understandable in a symposium publication, some of the papers would have benefited from a stringent critical appraisal. It is also unfortunate that the manuscripts were n o t edited to conform to a uniform format, b u t rather the Editor allowed the contributors to adopt an individual approach. This has resulted in papers differing widely in style, and nowhere is this more evident than in the " R e f e r e n c e s " section of the papers, virtually each of which follows a different style of literature citation. This reviewer has also found that in a few articles the language, thought and expression leave much to be desired. I cannot find any justification whatsoever for such glaring editorial shortcomings as persistence of the word " f e c u n d a t i o n " in the title and text of the article on page 221. Publication of this volume has been unusually p r o m p t and the appearance of the proceedings of a major Symposium in a b o u t 2--3 months after the event is indeed commendable. The papers are reproduced directly by photooffset printing of manuscripts in the form submitted by the authors w i t h o u t being retyped for uniformity of t y p e face. There are numerous line drawings and half-tones illustrating the book, which is beautifully produced and nicely bound in hard cover according to the high standards of North-Holland.
335
But these peripheral blessings cannot justify the price which I consider astonishingly high for a b o o k manufactured by photo-offset. Because research in fertilization processes is a rapidly moving field, and the references cited are likely to be superseded by more recent ones, I will be less than honest if I recommend this b o o k as a reference source. V. RAGHAVAN (Columbus, Ohio)
Fertilization in Higher Plants. H.F. Linskens (Editor). North-Holland/ American Elsevier, Amsterdam and New York, 1974, 373 pp., Dfl. 70 (US $26.95). This b o o k records the proceedings of the International S y m p o s i u m on Fertilization in Higher Plants held at Nijmegen, The Netherlands, August 28--30, 1974. It contains 43 articles whose authors are drawn from several European countries, United States and India. The considerations that determined the organization of this symposium are set forth in a brief introductory article by the Editor. In short, it is intended to give a greater appreciation of the fact that food products used by man are derived from fertilization products of higher plants and to stress the importance of reinforcing basic research in this area of plant science on a wider scale than before.
334 Interest in the basic processes involved in fertilization in higher plants has been stimulated in recent years by the discovery of in vitro pollination and fertilization, increasing application of the electron microscope in the analysis of the structure of the egg and sperm and the use of pollen grains in biochemically oriented physiological studies. Many of the papers presented at the Symposium touch on these themes. In addition, there are papers dealing with pollen germination, plastid evolution in pollen grains, isolation of pollen protoplasts and pollen incompatibility and sterility. Abnormalities and disturbances that occur during gamete maturation and fertilization are also covered in some detail in this volume.The contributions are arranged within seven broad headings: Pollen genetics, Gamete maturation, The progamic phase, The fusion, Phylogenetic aspects of fertilization, Incompatibility, and Disturbed gamete maturation and fertilization. Like many other symposium issues, this one also suffers from the drawback that it reads like the enlarged issue of a journal with no continuity of thought or thread of argument to be followed. The papers appearing here fall into several categories. Some, like those by Vasil, Johri and Shivanna, Ryczkowski and Batygina are clearly review t y p e of articles. The data of some articles have been previously published b u t are presented here in a different format; still others present a mixture of published and unpublished materials. Finally, there are one or t w o articles which appear to be no more than abstracts. In this regard the reviewer cannot help wishing that papers in the last category had n o t been included in the published volume. Despite the lack of consistency, the first three categories of papers contribute significantly as an up-todate account of the structural, genetic, physiological and biochemical aspects of fertilization in angiosperms. The Editor's statement in the Preface that the contributions have n o t been reviewed before printing merits some critical attention. While this is understandable in a symposium publication, some of the papers would have benefited from a stringent critical appraisal. It is also unfortunate that the manuscripts were n o t edited to conform to a uniform format, b u t rather the Editor allowed the contributors to adopt an individual approach. This has resulted in papers differing widely in style, and nowhere is this more evident than in the " R e f e r e n c e s " section of the papers, virtually each of which follows a different style of literature citation. This reviewer has also found that in a few articles the language, thought and expression leave much to be desired. I cannot find any justification whatsoever for such glaring editorial shortcomings as persistence of the word " f e c u n d a t i o n " in the title and text of the article on page 221. Publication of this volume has been unusually p r o m p t and the appearance of the proceedings of a major Symposium in a b o u t 2--3 months after the event is indeed commendable. The papers are reproduced directly by photooffset printing of manuscripts in the form submitted by the authors w i t h o u t being retyped for uniformity of t y p e face. There are numerous line drawings and half-tones illustrating the book, which is beautifully produced and nicely bound in hard cover according to the high standards of North-Holland.
335
But these peripheral blessings cannot justify the price which I consider astonishingly high for a b o o k manufactured by photo-offset. Because research in fertilization processes is a rapidly moving field, and the references cited are likely to be superseded by more recent ones, I will be less than honest if I recommend this b o o k as a reference source. V. RAGHAVAN (Columbus, Ohio)