Plant Systematics

by Michael G. Simpson

Plant Systematics, Second Edition, provides the basis for teaching an introduction to the morphology, evolution, and classification of land plants.It presents a foundation of the approach, methods, research goals, evidence, and terminology of plant systematics, along with the most recent knowledge of evolutionary relationships of plants and practical information vital to the field. This updated edition has been expanded to include 15 fern families, 9 gymnosperm families, and increased angiosperm family treatments from 100 to 129. Each family description includes a plate of full color photographs, illustrating exemplars of the group along with dissected and labeled material to show diagnostic features.The book includes a new chapter on species concepts and the role and impact of plant systematics in conservation biology, and a new appendix on statistical and morphometric techniques in plant systematics. It also contains more detailed explanations of maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogeny inference methods, an expanded coverage and glossary of morphological terms, and an updated chapter on botanical nomenclature.This book is recommended for graduate and undergraduate students in botany, plant taxonomy, plant systematics, plant pathology, plant anatomy, and ecology as well as scientists and researchers in any of the plant sciences.

Genres: Science, Plants, Nonfiction, Nature, Biology, Academic, Reference

752 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Marianna Vasile · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that every botanist should have. I loved it as a student and I keep using very often!

[Sophie Wieland · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's probably odd to review textbooks, but I just have to take a moment to extol the glossary of this behemoth of a book - lovely, concise, & understandable!

[Yanick Punter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much details for me

[Jude Reiter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a required textbook for the plant taxonomy class I took, and it is certainly highly informative and a great resource if you wish to get into learning about plants.

[Gwen Baird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Regular degular textbook that shoves info down your throat

[Paige McLoughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Botany is so complicated with so many varieties, so many subtle differences between families and species. Way harder than physics simply because physics has a fundamental simplicity, but botany has endless variety. My mind has a hard time wrapping around the multitude of plants out there. The book tries to tame the subject, but I will be reading this stuff over and over again until I get even a rudimentary grasp.

Update 4/5/2022 still understand only the basics, but it is worth trying to get better.

Reread 11/30/2025

I dip into this book from time to time. I feel I understand a little of the basics, but my plant identification skills need a lot of work. I am not good at noticing subtle morphological differences.