This book provides a comprehensive summary of current concepts of angiosperm phylogeny. The four authors have teamed up to shed light on the dramatic changes in the understanding of angiosperms. Their coverage of this subject illustrates several themes and points out current inadequacies as well as highlighting areas where further study is needed. Suitable for postgraduate level and beyond, this fascinating book provides an in-depth examination of one of nature’s most alluring class of plants.
This book and the textbook Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach (Judd et al. 2002) are the two most significant books on flowering plant phylogeny and systematics to come out in recent years. This book belongs on the bookshelf of any serious plant systematist * it will be a valuable resource for years to come." Richard G. Olmstead, BioScience * The book's goals are to review the molecular phylogeny of all flowering plants and use this information to inform systematics and our understanding of major evolutionary trends; in this it succeeds admirably. It will be a valuable reference for every botanist and many ecologists, and compelling reading for anyone who works on plant morphology, systematics, and evolution." * W. Scott Armbruster, The Quarterly Review of Biology * Unlike many such books, Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms is no endnote to a finished project, but rather, a dynamic and synoptic state-of-the-union of the ongoing effort by many botanists to determine the phylogeny of the angiosperms and classify them accordingly. Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms will likely be considered a necessary reference in the library of most plant systematists. It is encyclopedic in its treatment of the subject matter and the lengthy list of works cited make it an excellent source book for anyone hoping to begin broad phylogenetic study." * Christopher P. Randle, Cladistics * In their preface, Soltis et al. define the following three major goals of Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms: (1) To provide a comprehensive summary of current concepts of angiosperm phylogeny, (2) to illustrate the profound effect that this phylogenetic framework has on interpretations of character evolution and (3) to point to inadequacies in current understanding of both phylogeny and morphology and to the need for additional study. All three goals (and even more) are achieved in an excellent manner and Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms is highly recommendable for anyone involved in plant systematics." * Gerhard Prenner, Plant Science Bulletin * This book, very useful for students and scientists representing different disciplines in botany as phylogeny and evolution of angiosperms, will be of great value not only to systematists but also to evolutionary biologists, physiologists, ecologists, molecular biologists, and genomicists." * E. Kuta, Acta Physiologiae Plantarum * The book, Phylogeny and Evolution of Angiosperms, is timely despite the continued progress, modifications and uncertainties in the systematics of this largest group of land plants. The book is very well balanced in terms of historical review of the various subjects, presentation of recent findings, integration of non-DNA information with the DNA information, critical discussion of viewpoints, and presentation of outlook and potential future research. In summary, the book is comprehensive, well written, a very useful reference book in libraries, a good one to have in the office, as well as a useful text in graduate courses on angiosprem systematics." * Khidir W. Hilu, Écoscience * An important and very helpful book and a must for every plant systematist." * Volker Bittrich, Plant Systematics and Evolution * <"Overall, this book provides an impressive review of a rapidly expanding field. While the latest included results will no doubt be superseded by ongoing research, the comprehensive historical coverage ensures that the book will remain an important resource. And with over 40 pages of references, it serves as a good point of entry to the literature for graduate students and research scientists. This is obviously the intended audience, since there is no discussion of lab or analytical methods here. (The reader, at the outset, is assumed to have a solid understanding of molecular phylogenetics.) But both molecular systematists and morphologists will be well served by this book.>" —Tyler Smith, Systematic Botany
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.