The Growth of Plants

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In a sense man and the animals are parasites on the vegetable world. Ultimately human survival depends and is likely always to depend on plant growth. This book, therefore, by a professor of botany, literally goes to the roots of human existence.Traditional methods of agriculture may have served us in the past, but the sensational increase in the world's population makes it certain that every resource of botanical science will soon have to be mobilized if we are to avoid disaster.Outlining what we know today about the general behaviour of plants as they grow, the author explains photosynthesis—with its dependence on chlorophyll—and other processes; the organization of matter into protoplasm, cells, and tissues; the correlations of growth; the formation of roots, leaves, and flowers; the relations between plants and their surroundings, and the rhythms of growth and flowering.