Plant Physiology and Ecology

Abstract

THE task of summarising the principles of ecology and other branches of botany concerned with the relation of plant to environment is one with which teachers are confronted at the present time. Prof. Clements in this book outlines a course which he has carried out in a session with second-year students. His views on vegetation as an “organism” are already known from “Research Methods in Ecology” and other publications. The present book, briefly stated, is an attempt to graft on to “Research Methods” the physiology of Sachs and Pfeffer and the ecology of Warming and Kerner. The tree shows signs of one day being a symmetrical organism, but at present the traces of the grafting are somewhat conspicuous. Prof. Clements has all along taken up his standpoint without much consideration for the traditions of European schools; yet anything he writes is worth careful consideration. “Research Methods” was distinguished by such a marked disregard for principles admitted in Europe that it provoked much criticism; one, therefore, turns to the new book curious to see what the last three years have brought about.

Plant Physiology and Ecology.

By Prof. F. E. Clements. Pp. xv + 315; 125 illustrations. (London: A. Constable and Co., Ltd., 1907.) Price 10s. 6d. net.