This book has been prepared as a text to meet these needs as required by undergraduate and post graduate students of systematic botany. Its level of presentation is sufficiently elementary not to presuppose formal training in all of the allied botanical sciences, yet it does open channels to further study of them by those more advanced students who may have had the benefit of a considerable botanical background. This book represents several marked departures from existing works. The subject Matter is divided formally into two parts, Part One presents the more academic and theoretical considerations of taxonomy, supplemented by explanatory chapters of the practical fundamentals found to be essential to a minimum working knowledge of the science. Part Two is composed of a systematic enumeration of the 264 families of vascular plants.

Part I : Principles and Practices of Plant Taxonomy

Chapter I : Introduction

Chapter II : Taxonomy and its Significance

Interrelationships with allied sciences; problems in taxonomy; opportunities.

Chater III : History of Classification

Period I. classifications based on habit; Period II. artificial systems based on numerical classifications; Period III. systems based on form relationships; Period IV. systems based on phylogeny; other contemporary systems.

Chapter IV : Principles of Taxonomy

Major categories of classification; minor categories of classification; infraspecific categories; morphological criteria.

Chapter V : Phylogenetic Considerations

Significance to taxonomy; diversity of phyletic concepts; contributions to phylogenetic knowledge; phylogeny and the higher categories.

Chapter VI : Current Systems of Classification

Bentham and Hooker; Engler and Prantl; Rendle; Wettstein; Pulle; Skottsberg; Bessey; Hallier; Hutchinson.

Chapter VII : The Geography of Vascular Plants

Genesis and evolution; geography and its relationship to plant distribution; vegetation areas of the earth; physiographic areas of North America; taxonomic significance of physiographic areas; phytogeography-static vs.dynamic; principles of dynamic geography; importance of phytogeography to taxonomy.

Chapter VIII : Biosystematics and Cytogenetics

Biosystematics and modern taxonomy; mechanics of evolution; biosystematic categories; methods in experimental taxonomy; importance to taxonomic research and interpretation; apomisix; limitations of cytogenetic criteria.

Chapter IX : Plant Nomenclature

Beginnings of organized nomenclature; codes of nomenclature-Paris, Rochester, Vienna, American; International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature; primary and other provisions of the Rules; units of classification.

Chapter X : Plant Identification

Taxonomic Literature; herbaria.

Chapter XI : Field and Herbarium Techniques

Collecting procedures; preparation of specimens; preservation of specimens; housing of bulky materials; herbarium cases; type specimens.

Chapter XII : Monographs and Revisions

Procedures.

Chapter XIII : Floristics

Types of floristic study; procedures.

Chapter XIV : Literature of Taxonomic Botany

General taxonomic indexes; world floras; regional floras and manuals; monographs and revisions; bibliographies, catalogues, and review serials; periodicals; glossaries and dictionaries; cultivated and economic plants; Maps and Cartography; miscellaneous reference works.

Part II : Selected Families of Vascular Plants

Introduction

Pteridophyta

Embryophyta Siphonogama

Cymnospermae

Angiospermae

Monocotyledoneae

Dicotyledoneae

Appendix I

Suggested syllabus for elementary course

Appendix II

Illustrated glossary of botanical terms

Index