Plant Taxonomy has been revised to reflect global perspectives with particular emphasis on the current syllabi requirements of the Indian Universities. Published first in 1993 and reprinted 19 times in subsequent years upto 2008, speaks volumes about its overwhelming reception by the readers. The developments in the field of plant systematics, coupled with new and exciting discoveries contributing to the progress in taxonomical fields providing new information in classification of plants, have given impetus to bring out the revised edition. The new edition was also needed because of several changes made in the syllabi of Indian Universities, and also because of variations in the market trends and examination patterns.
The second edition of Plant Taxonomy is designed to present the current principles, practices and techniques of plant taxonomy and contemporary classifications, and also to describe some of the other important angiospermic families and groups. Those who are familiar with the first edition will be aware that there has been change of format to a larger page size, and also a completely different layout of the text. A considerable number of illustrations and chapter-wise revision questions have also been added in the revised text.
The major aim of this book is to provide a general overview of plant taxonomy in the most effective and positive manner to the students. This revised edition of Plant Taxonomy is a broad, up-to-date synthesis of this active and fascinating field of botany. Besides retaining all chapters of the first edition, this revised edition now also includes some new chapters, viz. Taxonomic Structure, Examination of Plant Specimen, Molecular Taxonomy, and Table of Major Characters of Discussed Families. Also added in this new edition are the detailed discussions of 16 more families of dicotyledons (viz. Saxifragaceae, Begoniaceae, Passifloraceae, Araliaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Campanulaceae, Ericaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Loganiaceae, Polemoniaceae, Pedaliaceae, Plantaginaceae, Aristolochiaceae, Piperaceae, Cannabinaceae, and Salicaceae) and 4 families of monocotyledons (viz. Bromeliaceae, Cannaceae, Juncaceae, and Typhaceae), thus increasing the number of discussed families from 69 to 89 out of total number of 200 families of flowering plants discussed by Bentham and Hooker. This number of discussed families in this book is now larger than all other available books on plant taxonomy in the Indian market. The revised edition also discusses some new subtopics in certain existing chapters as suggested by reviewers of the book. These subtopics include (i) Deep-freezing methods, (ii) Restructuring of ICBN with the addition of the details of St. Louis Code (1999) and Vienna Code (2005), (iii) Phylocode, a new system of nomenclature, and (iv) Classification and major characters of subclasses and orders of dicotyledons and monocotyledons. In Comparative Tables of Selected Families, 13 new tables have been added, thus increasing the total number from 20 to 33 comparative tables. Another new feature is an index-listing of all relevant medicinal usages of discussed plants given at the end of the book. These additions will prove to be of great help to the students while preparing for their examination.
The major highlights of this book are as follows:
• Complete coverage of all important topics in Plant Taxonomy
- Plant Classification
- Plant Collection and Specimen Preparation
- Identification and Botanical Nomenclature
- Herbarium and Botanical Gardens
- Phylogeny
- Classification System and Description of 89 Families
• Four recent application-based Chapters
- Numerical Taxonomy
- Chemotaxonomy
- Serotaxonomy
- Molecular Taxonomy
• Examination Preparation Tools to aid students memorise basics and prepare efficiently for their examinations
- All 89 Families summarised in a Table
- 33 questions on ‘Differentiate between the families'
- 164 Chapter-end Examination Review Questions
• Rich pedagogy
- More than 900 rich plant organs sketches and floral diagrams
- Around 40 tables
• Updated as per International Botanical Congress Guidelines, (St. Louis, Missouri, July-August 1999) organised by IAPT: St. Louis Code, The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
Plant Taxonomy, in its present form, should now meet the needs of undergraduate students of all universities of the country taking botany as their major subject. It should also cater to the complete requirements of postgraduate students of Botany, Agriculture and Forestry in majority of the Indian Universities. As has already been in the past, the book should also be useful for and liked by students preparing for AIPMT, CPMT, NET, SLET, IAS, IFS, PCS and several other major competitive examinations.
A major highlight of this revised edition is that all chapters are largely independent, so that the teacher may choose the desired sequence of topics according to his/her syllabus requirements. The level of presentation is primarily for undergraduate students and based mainly on the assumption that the students will have had an introductory Botany course. The author hopes that the book in its present form will prove stimulating to serious amateurs, teachers as well as professionals who are specialists in other fields but use classifications and other taxonomic information about flowering plants.
Before going to press, the revised manuscript was critically reviewed by some experts in the field, including Dr Tariq Husain, Angiosperm Taxonomy and Herbarium Division, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow; Dr N K Soni, Department of Botany, Dr H S Gour University, Sagar; and Dr P J Handique, Department of Biotechnology, Gauhati University, Guwahati. Besides several positive comments and suggestions of these reviewers, one of them even commented that, “This book is above all the books available on Plant Taxonomy in the country”. For the pains taken by these reviewers, the author acknowledges their help and thank them all by heart.
Without the help of my dear student, Dr Mayank Uday Charaya, Professor of Botany, C.C.S. University, Meerut, this book would have not come in its present form. I express my heartfelt feelings to Professor Charaya and his team for searching latest information through the Internet. For several types of suggestions, technical clarifications and encouragements, I also express my gratitude to Dr R Shiam (my teacher from BSc to PhD), Dr N P Saxena (Meerut), Dr Lokendra Singh (Meerut) and Dr H P Pandey (University of Allahabad).
At this stage, I cannot ignore the help, support, cooperation and total dedication that my wife Dr (Mrs) Kanti D Sharma, PhD extended to me during the entire period of the preparation of this book. She deserves all my love and appreciation. Throughout this period, I had no option but to ignore my grandchildren (Kuhu and Karan), though deeply unwillingly. To them, I can simply say that I love both of you to my fullest.
I would be grateful if users of the book notify me of any errors or omissions that come to their notice. Comments and suggestions for improvements may be sent to tmh.sciencemathsfeedback@ gmail.com (kindly mention the title and author name in the subject line).
[EBOOK] PLANT TAXONOMY, O P Sharma, Tata McGraw-Hill Education Private Limited
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