Promotional Information

The first edition was recipient of the Henry Allan Gleason Award, given annually by the New York Botanical Garden in recognition of an outstanding recent publication in the field of plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography.

Table of Contents

UNIT I SYSTEMATICS
1. Plant Systematics: an Overview
2. Phylogenetic Systematics

UNIT II EVOLUTION AND DIVERSITY OF PLANTS
3. Evolution and Diversity of Green and Land Plants
4. Evolution and Diversity of Vascular Plants
5. Evolution and Diversity of Woody and Seed Plants
6. Evolution of Flowering Plants
7. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Amborellales, Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales, Magnoliids, Ceratophyllales, and Monocots
8. Diversity and Classification of Flowering Plants: Eudicots

UNIT III SYSTEMATIC EVIDENCE AND DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY
9. Plant Morphology
10. Plant Anatomy and Physiology
11. Plant Embryology
12. Palynology
13. Plant Reproductive Biology
14. Plant Molecular Systematics

UNIT IV RESOURCES IN PLANT SYSTEMATICS
15. Plant Identification
16. Plant Nomenclature
17. Plant Collecting and Documentation
18. Herbaria and Data Information Systems

UNIT V SPECIES CONCEPTS AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
19. Species and Conservation in Systematics

Appendix
1. Plant Description
2. Botanical Illustrations
3. Scientific Journals in Plant Systematics
4. Statistics and Morphometrics in Plant Systematics

About the Author

Dr. Michael G. Simpson has been a professor of Biology at San Diego State University since 1986. His area of expertise is plant systematics, dealing with the description, identification, naming and classification of plants with the overriding goal of inferring the pattern of evolutionary history (phylogeny). Dr. Simpson has taught courses in Principles of Organismal Biology, Plant Systematics, Taxonomy of California Plants, Economic Botany, Genetics and Evolution, and Seminar in Systematics and Evolution. Additionally, he serves as the Curator of the SDSU Herbarium where he oversees the maintenance, organization, and use of the collection and facilitates additions to the herbarium. Currently, his field work in Chile and Argentina is supported in part by the National Geographic Society. In addition to publishing numerous articles in technical journals, Dr. Simpson has authored of the widely used textbook Plant Systematics (Elsevier-Academic Press, 2006; 2nd ed. 2010.)

Reviews

Praise for the first edition:
"This publication, many years in the making, represents a masterly treatment of vascular plant groups and the principles of plant systematics as well as incorporating the latest concepts in phylogenetics and methodologies. It is erudite and most importantly - user friendly, especially students. This text will serve as the standard for many years to come."
-- Botanical Society of America