Description
New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers Systematic Botany by Subhash Chandra Datta
The term systematic botany encompasses the domain not only of the higher plants, but also of the lower plants. Since it is not possible to treat adequately the various plant-groups under a single volume, this edition is restricted to a discussion of the angiosperms. It has been designed as a textbook for the undergraduate students (Pass and Honours) of all the Indian universities and it will be helpful to postgraduate students in Botany as well as to the study of Agriculture and allied subjects.
The author has abandoned Bentham—Hooker’s system and presented a new scheme of ‘angiosperm–classification’. Although the latter scheme, like any other envisaged before, has its shortcomings, it represents the most probable natural relationship among flowering plants. Almost all the taxa prevalent in the Indian flora have been dealt with, covering 44 orders and 193 families. Generally, each order has been discussed in the light of phylogeny and with emphasis on its general features, circumscription inter-relationship, origin and means of identification of various families (by bracketed keys). Those families prominent in the country’s flora have been described under six or seven different heads, depending on the available information. Though the inconspicuous ones have not been categorised likewise, one can even find in them the array of items under each family being suitably treated. Moreover, the nomenclature of plants have been checked and brought up-to-date as far as possible. Part one is an expose of taxonomic principles, while parts three and four, deal with the dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants respectively. Under part two, there are certain specialised topics which have a bearing on the study of the systematic botany of angiosperms. A list of important books and papers is inserted at the end of each part. In brief, the author has made an attempt to give a complete picture of angiosperm systematically.