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:
- Deep-freezing methods
- Restructuring of ICBN with the addition of the details of St. Louis Code (1999) and Vienna Code (2005)
- Phylocode, a new system of nomenclature
- Classification and major characters of subclasses and orders of dicotyledons and monocotyledons.
The major highlights of this book are as follows:
- Complete coverage of all important topics in Plant Taxonomy
– 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
– Chemotaxonomy
– Serotaxonomy
– Molecular Taxonomy
- Examination Preparation Tools to aid students memorise basics and prepare efficiently for their examinations
– 33 questions on ‘Differentiate between the families
– 164 Chapter-end Examination Review Questions
- Rich pedagogy
– 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.