Plant structure. A colour guide, 2nd edn

Abstract

I regularly – and (I hope) rightly – bemoan the lack of plant anatomical knowledge of modern-day biology graduates, so it's always good to see books that try to remedy that deficiency! Expectations were accordingly high when I received Plant structure by Bowes and Mauseth (hereafter referred to as B&M2e) to review. Although BM there is a standard set of topics that are fundamental to plant anatomy that all books that aspire to deliver on the subject ought to contain. Each chapter begins with a short introductory text that summarizes the main features of the chapter's subject. And this is done with admirable succinctness. Briefly, the contents are: Chapter 1, Introduction, which sets the theme for the atlas and covers such topics as the variety of land plants, transpiration and translocation in vascular plants, general morphology of angiosperms (the book is largely concerned with flowering plant anatomy), floral and reproductive features. Chapter 2, The Plant Cell, is an introduction to plant cell ultrastructure. Chapter 3, Plant Histology, considers cells and tissues of the primary and secondary plant body (this and all subsequent chapters contain images almost solely at the light-microscope, LM, level, the primary level of inquiry of the book). After Chapter 4, Apical Meristems, there follow chapters dedicated to the major organs of the vegetative plant body: 5, The Green Leaf; 6, The Stem; and 7, The Root. The anatomical survey is concluded with Chapter 8 on Plant Reproduction. A selected bibliography, glossary and index complete the book. Perhaps the most telling comparison of BM Chapter 8 is termed Plant Reproduction in B&M2e – rather than Sexual Reproduction – because it has been expanded to include asexual propagation methods. Whilst the text in both editions is largely the same, it has been considerably supplemented in many places in B&M2e, e.g. approx. 2·5 pages on leaf modifications in Chapter 6 (although this may not sound much, since the text of a chapter in B&M2e is only approx. 6·25 pages this represents a substantial increase). And there are also new sections dealing with mangroves, succulent roots, parasitic plants and ant-plants in Chapter 7. As one might expect from Mauseth's involvement, there are a lot of cactus images in B&M2e (and yes! anatomy of cactus spines is one of the new items on leaf modification in Chapter 5). The bibliography, glossary and index are also all larger in B&M2e. Inevitably in such a volume, attention focuses on the images. And here is where I have a big problem with B&M2e. Notwithstanding how stunning and beautiful the images are (which they are and for which full credit is rightly and richly deserved), they suffer from a massive fundamental flaw: nowhere are scale bars provided for any image, nor even an indication of the magnification (which latter basic information was provided in 1e). Why is this essential information not provided? Not only is its omission baffling and bizarre, it seriously undermines any value the text has as an aid to teaching plant anatomy! BM although both of these have accompanying CDs with digital versions of the book's images – which addition would have made BM although their images may not be as impressive as B&M2e's, they do at least give details of the magnification. Without doubt Bowes & Mauseth's Plant structure is a stunning collection of anatomical images at the light-microscope level with informative accompanying text. And at approx. £0·05 per image it represents excellent value. It is therefore such a shame that its educational worth is considerably devalued by images devoid of any indication of magnification or scale.