Developmental Biology of Flowering Plants

This book examines the accomplishments of the past and of the outstand ing problems of the future in the study of plant development. An impor tant feature of this book is the integration of results from molecular and genetic studies on various aspects of plant development in a cell ular and physiological context. Of particular interest to readers will be the clear treatment of each landmark stage in the life cycle of pl ants such as seed germination, seedling growth, flowering, gametogenes is, pollen-pistil interactions, embryogenesis, fruit ripening, and see d and bud dormancy. The book also considers the development of individ ual plant organs such as the shoot, leaf, root and flowers as well as alternate developmental strategies of plants. Appropriately, emphasis is placed on new insights on the molecular and genetic biology of plan t development obtained from model systems like Arabidopsis and maize.