Variations and Evolution in Plants

by G. Ledyard Stebbins

Pp. xix, 643; 55 text-figures, 19 tables. Publisher's original blue cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine and with gilt panel lines, lg 8vo. This is the second printing, published just one year after the first printing. It is number XVI of the Columbia Biological Series, edited at Columbia University by Leslie C. Dunn, et al. Stebbins was both a botanist and geneticist. This is his most important work. "Variation and Evolution in Plants" formed the botanical cornerstone of the "modern synthesis" that demonstrated how Mendelian genetics was consistent with natural selection and gradual evolution. A second issue of the 'modern synthesis' was whether the broad-scale changes (macroevolution) seen by palaeontologists could be explained by small changes seen in extant local populations (microevolution). The modern synthesis is still, to a large extent, the current paradigm in evolutionary biology. Researchers contributing to the modern synthesis are R. A. Fisher, Theodosius Dobzhansky, J. B. S. Haldane, Sewall Wright, Ernst Mayr, Bernhard Rensch, Sergei Chetverikov, George Gaylord Simpson, and G. Ledyard Stebbins. No ownership marks and no signs of use.

Genres: Biology, Science

57 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1950