Primitive Land Plants, also known as the Archegoniatæ

Abstract

THE publication of a new work by Prof. F. O. Bower dealing with the Archegoniatæ is an event of importance in the study of the morphology of plants. For Prof. Bower, who has contributed largely to our detailed knowledge by his investigations, has never rested content with mere description. He has always aimed at bringing the facts under general conceptions or hypotheses. His work has thus never lost the impulse of the evolutionary point of view, whether it has been a direct quest for phyletic lines or, as he here puts it, an attempt “to visualise the Methods of Advance which these primitive Land-Plants appear to have followed in their evolution”. That he has retained this aim and the faith that it may be reached is closely connected with his work having been concerned with the Vascular Cryptogams or Pteridophyta, for these present exceptionally favourable material for evolutionary morphology. They can be studied apart from the later evolved Gymnosperms and Angiosperms, they are represented by varied living forms and they have a wonderfully good and instructive fossil record.

Primitive Land Plants, also known as the Archegoniatæ.

By Prof. F. O. Bower. Pp. xiv + 658. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1935.) 30s. net.