Volumes III and IV of this encyclopaedia provide a novel classification of the monocotyledons, a group encompassing plants of most diverse life-forms such as aquatics, terrestrial and epiphytic herbs, and tall trees. Of the 106 families now recognized 104 are treated in the two volumes, while the economically or horticulturally important grass and orchid families are relegated to two subsequent volumes. The classification followed here is based on recent molecular studies as well as on the vast body of information available on this plant group. The wealth and precision of information, but also the keys for the identification of genera and details on their properties, including distribution and diversification, make this work an important source for both the scholar and the practitioner in the fields of pure and applied plant sciences..

Volumes III and IV of this encyclopaedia provide a novel classification of the monocotyledons, a group encompassing plants of most diverse life-forms such as aquatics, terrestrial and epiphytic herbs, and tall trees. Of the 106 families now recognized 104 are treated in the two volumes, while the economically or horticulturally important grass and orchid families are relegated to two subsequent volumes. The classification followed here is based on recent molecular studies as well as on the vast body of information available on this plant group. The wealth and precision of information, but also the keys for the identification of genera and details on their properties, including distribution and diversification, make this work an important source for both the scholar and the practitioner in the fields of pure and applied plant sciences..

This volume - the first of this series dealing with angiosperms - comprises the treatments of 73 families, representing three major blocks of the dicotyledons: magnoliids, centrosperms, and hamamelids. These blocks are generally recognized as subclasses in modern textbooks and works of reference. We consider them a convenient means for structuring the hundreds of di cotyledon families, but are far from taking them at face value for biological, let alone mono phyletic entities. Angiosperm taxa above the rank of family are little consolidated, as is easily seen when comparing various modern classifications. Genera and families, in contrast, are comparatively stable units -and they are important in practical terms. The genus is the taxon most frequently recognized as a distinct entity even by the layman, and generic names provide the key to all in formation available about plants. The family is, as a rule, homogeneous enough to conve niently summarize biological information, yet comprehensive enough to avoid excessive re dundance. The emphasis in this series is, therefore, primarily on families and genera.

In this volume treatments are offered for 52 families containing 432 genera belonging to 13 eudicot orders, many of which have recently been newly designed; four families remain unassigned to order. Emphasis is on the early-diverging eudicots and basal core eudicots. The wealth of information contained in this volume will make it an important source of reference for both the scholar and the practitioner in the fields of pure and applied plant sciences.

Der Senior unserer Herausgebergemeinschaft HEINZ ELLENBERG hat sich leider aus der Redaktion zuruckgezogen. Nach dem Tode von ERNST GXUMANN hatte er 1963 (ab Band 26) zusammen mit ERWIN BUNNING die Herausgeberschaft der "Fortschritte der Botanik" ubernommen. Seiner Aufgeschlossenheit und auch seiner Initiative ist die dann spater erfolgte Erweiterung des Herausgebergremiums und die damit verbundene inhaltliche Umgestaltung zu verdanken. In seiner nunmehr fast zwanzigjahrigen Betreuung des Abschnittes "Geobotanik" hat er dazu beigetragen, daB dieses Teilgebiet zu einer wesentlichen Saule unserer Reihe geworden ist. Herausgeber und Verlag mochten ihm fur seine Redaktionsarbeit danken und hoffen, daB Herr ELLENBERG ihnen auch weiterhin in alter Freund- schaft verbunden bleibt. An seiner Stelle . hat von diesem Band ab Herr MICHAEL RUNGE die Schriftleitung des Kapitels Geobotanik ubernommen. Die Herausgeber Contents A. MORPHOLOGY I. Cytology a) General and Molecular Cytology. By ANTHONY W. ROBARDS *** 1. Root Hairs ******************************************* 1 a) Development and Structure of Root Hairs *********** 1 b) Microbial and Other Associations with Root Hairs ** 3 2. Cytoplasmic Streaming ******************************** 6 a) General Experimental Effects on Cytoplasmic Streaming ***************************************** 7 b) Effects of Cytochalasin B on Cytoplasmic Streaming ***************************************** 8 c) Effects of Light and of Growth Regulators on Cytoplasmic Streaming ***************************** 9 d) The Role of Calcium in Cytoplasmic Streaming ****** 10 e) General Observations on Cytoplasmic Streaming ***** 11 3. Calmodulin ******************************************* 1 2 References ********************************************** 14 b) Special Cytology: Cytology and Morphogenesis of Higher Plant Cells - Phloem. By H. -D.

This volume - the first of this series dealing with angiosperms - comprises the treatments of 73 families, representing three major blocks of the dicotyledons: magnoliids, centrosperms, and hamamelids. These blocks are generally recognized as subclasses in modern textbooks and works of reference. We consider them a convenient means for structuring the hundreds of di cotyledon families, but are far from taking them at face value for biological, let alone mono phyletic entities. Angiosperm taxa above the rank of family are little consolidated, as is easily seen when comparing various modern classifications. Genera and families, in contrast, are comparatively stable units -and they are important in practical terms. The genus is the taxon most frequently recognized as a distinct entity even by the layman, and generic names provide the key to all in formation available about plants. The family is, as a rule, homogeneous enough to conve niently summarize biological information, yet comprehensive enough to avoid excessive re dundance. The emphasis in this series is, therefore, primarily on families and genera."

When Rolf Dahlgren and I embarked on preparing this book series, Rolf took prime responsibility for monocotyledons, which had interested him for a long time. After finishing his comparative study and family classification of the monocots, he devoted much energy to the acquisition and editing of family treatments for the present series. After his untimely death, Peter Goldblatt, who had worked with him, continued to handle further incoming monocot manuscripts until, in the early 1990s, his other obligations no longer allowed him to continue. At that time, some 30 manuscripts in various states of perfection had accumulated, which seemed to form a solid basis for a speedy completion of the FGVP monocots; with the exception of the grasses and orchids which would appear in separate volumes. I felt a strong obligation to do everything to help in publishing the manuscripts that had been put into our hands. I finally decided to take charge of them personally, although during my life as a botainst I had never seriously been interested in monocots.

In the present volume - the sixth of this series - 48 flowering plant families comprising a total of 712 genera are treated. They represent the newly designed eurosid orders Celastrales, Oxalidales and Rosales and the asterid orders Cornales and Ericales. The recognition of these ordinal concepts is the result of numerous recent gene sequence analyses which, for the first time in angiosperm systematics, have provided a reliable higher order classification. The concept of Ericales is largely expanded beyond its conventional limits to make it monophyletic and now includes parts of the erstwhile Ebenales, Lecythidales, Primulales and other orders. The revised circumscription of families such as Ericaceae, Celastraceae and Cunoniaceae owes much to the application of recent molecular studies, and for the same reason in the primulalean families, a complete remodeling of family limits is proposed.

This encyclopedia contains a comprehensive treatment of the taxonomy of the families and genera of ferns and seed plants. The present volume, the fifth in this series, deals with three major groups of dicotyledons, the Capparales, Malvales, and Non-betalain Caryophyllales.

When Rolf Dahlgren and I embarked on preparing this book series, Rolf took prime responsibility for monocotyledons, which had interested him for a long time. After finishing his comparative study and family classification of the mono cots, he devoted much energy to the acquisition and editing of family treatments for the present series. After his untimely death, Peter Goldblatt, who had worked with him, continued to handle further incoming monocot manuscripts until, in the early 1990s, his other obligations no longer allowed him to continue. At that time, some 30 manuscripts in various states of perfection had accumulated, which seemed to form a solid basis for a speedy completion of the FGVP monocots; with the exception of the grasses and orchids which would appear in separate volumes. I felt a strong obligation to do everything to help in publishing the manuscripts that had been put into our hands. I finally decided to take charge of them personally, although during my life as a botanist I had never seriously been interested in mono cots.

This volume presents systematic treatments for the families and genera of the Malpighiales, which more recently have been recognised as a new major group of the eudicots. Apart from several herbaceous lineages (already treated in Vol. IX of this series), the order consists mainly of rainforest trees, particularly those of the understorey. Accompanied by other early eudicot lineages, this reflects the well-documented origin of the group as invaders into the conifer-, cycad- and seed fern-dominated forests of the Cretaceous which, at that time, were transformed into the tropical rainforest biome. In this volume, 24 families with 429 genera comprising over 12,000 species are treated. Many of these belong to the vast family of the Euphorbiaceae (here conceived in a broader sense), followed by the Violaceae, whereas some of the remaining families are very small and even relictual. The revised classification includes a complete inventory of the genera belonging to the families treated in this volume, along with their diagnostic features and keys for their identification. References to the latest taxonomic literature and links to many different disciplines important to modern plant systematics make the volume a valuable source of information on the manifold aspects of plant diversity."