When WILHELM RUHLAND developed his plan for an Encyclopedia of Plant Physiol ogy more than three decades ago, biology could still be conveniently subdivided into classical areas. Even within plant physiology, subdivisions were not too difficult to make, and general principles could be covered sufficiently in the two introductory volumes of the Encyclopedia on the physical and chemical basis of cell biology. But the situation changed rapidly even during the 12-year publication period of the Encyclopedia (1955-1967). The new molecular direction of genetics and structural research on biopolymers...

The problems associated with the movement of water and solutes throughout the plant body have intrigued students of plants since Malpighi's conclusions in 1675 and 1679 that nutrient sap flows upward and downward in stems through vessels in both wood and bark. Steven Hale's ingenious experiments on the movement of water in plants in 1726 and Hartig's observations of sieve-tube exudation in the mid-19th century set the stage for continued intensive studies on long-range transport in plants. In spite of this interest for more than 200 years in the movement of solutes and water in plants, it has...

As editor of the two-part Volume V on photosynthesis in RUHLAND'S Encyclopedia, the forerunner of this series published in 1960, I have been approached by the editors of the present volume to provide a short preface. The justification for following this suggestion lies in the great changes which have been taking place in biology in the two decades between these publications, changes which are reflected in the new editorial plan. Twenty years ago it appeared convenient and formally easy to consider photo synthesis as a clearly separated field of research, which could be dealt with under two...

M. GIBBS and E. LATZKO In the preface to his Experiments upon Vegetables, INGEN-Housz wrote in 1779: "The discovery of Dr. PRIESTLEY that plants have a power of correcting bad air . . . shows . . . that the air, spoiled and rendered noxious to animals by their breath ing in it, serves to plants as a kind of nourishment. " INGEN-Housz then described his own experiments in which he established that plants absorb this "nourishment" more actively in brighter sunlight. By the turn of the eighteenth century, the "nourishment" was recognized to be CO . Photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, the 2 major...

It is impossible in a single volume to deal comprehensively with all classes of secondary plant compounds. In the earlier series of this Encyclopedia emphasis was laid on the isoprenoids and plant phenols. While these compounds have not been neglected in the present volume we have attempted to achieve a more balanced presentation by drawing attention to the importance of nitrogenous secondary metabolites such as the alkaloids, amines and non-protein amino acids. Most of the compounds or groups of compounds included in Volume 8 are of restricted distribution within the plant kingdom and...

This is the first of the set of three volumes in the Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, that will cover the area of the hormonal regulation of plant growth and development. The overall plan for the set assumes that this area of plant physiology is sufficiently mature for a review of current knowledge to be organized in terms of unifying principles and processes. Reviews in the past have generally treated each class of hormone individually, but this set of volumes is subdivided according to the properties common to all classes. Such an organization permits the examination of the...

This is the second of the set of three volumes in the Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, that will cover the area of the hormonal regulation of plant growth and development. The overall plan for the set assumes that this area of plant physiology is sufficiently mature for a review of current knowl edge to be organized in terms of unifying principles and processes. Reviews in the past have generally treated each class of hormone individually, but this set of volumes is subdivided according to the properties common to all classes. Such an organization permits the examination of the...

The first book bearing the title of this volume, Inorganic Plant Nutrition, was written by D. R. HOAGLAND of the University of California at Berkeley. As indicated by its extended title, Lectures on the Inorganic Nutrition of Plants, it is a collection of lectures - the JOHN M. PRATHER lectures, which he was invited in 1942 to give. at Harvard University and presented there between April 10 and 23 of that year - 41 years before the publication of the present volume. They were not "originally intended for publication" but fortunately HOAGLAND was persuaded to publish them; the book appeared in...

H. F. LINSKENS and J. HESLOP-HARRISON The chapters of this volume deal with intercellular interaction phenomena in plants. Collectively they provide a broad conspectus of a highly active, if greatly fragmented, research field. Certain limitations have been imposed on the subject matter, the most impor tant being the exclusion of long-range interactions within the plant body. It is true that pervasive hormonal control systems cannot readily be demarcated from controls mediated by pheromones or information-carrying molecules with more limited spheres of action, but consideration is given in...