This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

Plants face a wide range of environmental challenges, which are expected to become more intense as a result of global climate change. Plant-soil interactions play an important role in the functioning of ecosystems. Soil properties represent a strong selection pressure for plant diversity and influence the structure of plant communities and biodiversity. The complexity of plant-soil interactions has recently been studied by developing a trait-based approach in which responses and effects of plants on soil environment are quantified and modelled. This fundamental research on plant-soil interaction in ecosystems is essential to transpose knowledge of functional ecology to environmental management. Frontiers in Plant-Soil Interaction: Molecular Insights into Plant Adaptation will address topics that provide advances in understanding plant responses to soil conditions through the integration of genetic, molecular, and plant-level studies of diverse biotic and abiotic stresses under field and laboratory conditions. This book will be beneficial to students and researchers working on stress physiology and stress proteins, genomics, proteomics, genetic engineering and other fields of plant-soil interactions. Frontiers in Plant-Soil Interaction will also help scientists explore new horizons in their area of research.

Volume 37 will provide details on the major chemical constituents of medicinal plants and their mechanism of action as the anticancer compounds. This special issue, in addition to the previous volume (volume 36 of The Enzyme series was on Natural Products and Cancer Signaling Targets: Isoprenoids, Polyphenols and Flavonoids), will highlight the significant advance made in the field in elucidating mechanisms of anticancer effect of the major phytochemicals.

In Crocologia - A Detailed Study of Saffron, the King of Plants, Sally Francis and Maria Teresa Ramandi present the first translation into English of Johann Ferdinand Hertodt's seminal 1671 work Crocologia, a book uniquely devoted to the medical uses of saffron. Hertodt discusses saffron's origin, related species, cultivation, selection, properties and lists all its pharmaceutical preparations. Hertodt then journeys through diseases of the human body, presenting saffron-containing formulae for their treatment. The two authors complement the translation with a biography of Hertodt, and detail saffron's botany, current production, uses, its changing reputation as a drug, and review findings from new medical research. There is a full Glossary, and translation of a contemporary animadversion of Crocologia by Hertodt's rival, Wenzel Maximilian Ardensbach.

Scientific Perspectives of Tea Plant Horticulture and Productivity is a complete, step-by-step guide on how to maximize tea plant growth, yield and quality. Chapters focus on the methods of cultivation, soil and water management, plant physiology, plant protection and weed control, problems from pollution and climate change, and eco-friendly remedial actions. This is an essential read for plant biologists and tea horticulturalists as the tea industry is struggling due to high production costs, changing climates and diminishing plant yields, with countries in Asia declaring the industry at 'crisis point.' Horticulturalists need solutions to problems with plant productivity, quality, stress management and eco-friendly cultivation practices. There have been several technological advances in the field and horticulturalists need guidance on how best to implement new technologies, hence the importance of this new resource.

Biological literature of the Roman imperial period remains somehow 'underestimated'. It is even quite difficult to speak of biological literature for this period at all: biology (apart from medicine) did not represent, indeed, a specific 'subgenre' of scientific literature. Nevertheless, writings as disparate as Philo of Alexandria's Alexander, Plutarch's De sollertia animalium or Bruta ratione uti, Aelian's De Natura Animalium, Oppian's Halieutika, Pseudo-Oppian's Kynegetika, and Basil of Caeserea's Homilies on the Creation engage with zoological, anatomic, or botanical questions. Poikile Physis examines how such writings appropriate, adapt, classify, re-elaborate and present biological knowledge which originated within the previous, mainly Aristotelian, tradition. It offers a holistic approach to these works by considering their reception of scientific material, their literary as well as rhetorical aspects, and their interaction with different socio-cultural conditions. The result of an interdisciplinary discussion among scholars of Greek studies, philosophy and history of science, the volume provides an initial analysis of forms and functions of biological literature in the imperial period.

Biological control of weeds has been practiced for over 100 years and Australia has been a leader in this weed management technique. The classical example of control of prickly pears in Australia by the cactus moth "Cactoblastis cactorum," which was imported from the Americas, helped to set the future for biocontrol of weeds in many countries. Since then there have been many projects using Classical Biological Control to manage numerous weed species, many of which have been successful. Importantly, there have been no serious negative non-target impacts the technique, when practiced as it is in Australia, is safe and environmentally friendly. Economic assessments have shown that biocontrol of weeds in Australia has provided exceedingly high benefit-to-cost ratios. This book reviews biological control of weeds in Australia to 2011, covering over 90 weed species and a multitude of biological control agents and potential agents. Each chapter has been written by practicing biological control of weeds researchers and provides details of the weed, the history of its biological control, exploration for agents, potential agents studied and agents released and the outcomes of those releases. Many weeds were successfully controlled, some were not, many projects are still underway, some have just begun, however all are reported in detail in this book. "Biological Control of Weeds in Australia" will provide invaluable information for biological control researchers in Australia and elsewhere. Agents used in Australia could be of immense value to other countries that suffer from the same weeds as Australia. The studies reported here provide direction to future research and provide examples and knowledge for researchers and students. KEY FEATURES * A unique collation of information for Australian weed research and management * Contains all the information about biological control of weeds in Australia in one book * Provides key references for further information * Will become a well cited publication"