Variation and Evolution in Plants

FIRST EDITION. Illustrated with 55 figures & 9 tables. Includes comprehensive list of works cited, plus index. Number XVI of the Columbia Biological Series, edited at Columbia University by Leslie C. Dunn, et al. Author, George Ledyard Stebbins, Jr. (1906-2000), American botanist & geneticist, one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. His most important publication was Variation & Evolution in Plants, which combined genetics & Darwin's theory of natural selection to describe plant speciation. One of the main publications which formed the core of the modern evolutionary synthesis & still provides the conceptual framework for research in plant evolutionary biology. More details below. NOTE: Volume from the collection of important geneticist & zoologist, Professor Michael J. White, with his ink ownership signature to ffep ("M. White, Zoology Dept., University of Texas"). Contains a few marginal pencil check-marks in White's hand. The bibliography at rear quotes White's 1945 Cambridge University Press publication "Animal Cytology & Evolution" as a work cited in this volume. Professor White is also referenced in the book's index (pp. 442, 445-46, 459, & 462) regarding quoted references attributed to him. From (Chapter XII: Evolutionary Trends- The Karyotype) p.442: "The important fact to remember is that chromosomes are not only structures which result as end products of a series of gene-controlled developmental processes; they are themselves the bearers of the genes or hereditary factors. This at once puts them into a different category from all other structures of the body. Furthermore, as White (1945, p.152) has observed in this connection, chromosomes are not merely aggregates of discrete genic units. To a certain extent they are units in themselves. We should expect changes in the chromosomes to bear a more direct relationship to genetic-evolutionary processes than do any other types of changes". Michael James Denham White (1910-1983) was Professor of Zoology 1958-64 & Professor of Genetics 1964-75, University of Melbourne. He made important contributions to many aspects of cytology & cytogenetics & to evolutionary biology, including speciation theory & systematics. Regarding "Variation & Evolution in Plants", Columbia University's Jesup Lectures were the starting point for many of the most important works of the modern evolutionary synthesis. The presenters introduced the connection between two important discoveries - the units of evolution (genes) with selection as the primary mechanism of evolution. In 1941, Edgar Anderson & Ernst Mayr co-presented the lecture series & Mayr later published his lectures as Systematics & the Origin of Species. In 1946, Stebbins was invited on Dobzhansky's recommendation to present the prestigious lectures. Stebbins' lectures drew together the otherwise disparate fields of genetics, ecology, systematics, cytology, & paleontology. In 1950, these lectures were published as Variation & Evolution in Plants, which proved to be one of the most important books in 20th-century botany. The first book to provide a wide-ranging explanation of how evolutionary mechanisms operated in plants at the genetic level. It brought concepts related to plant evolution into line with animal evolution & provided the conceptual framework to organize a disparate set of disciplines into a new field: plant evolutionary biology. Variation & Evolution in Plants continues to be widely cited in contemporary scientific botanical literature 60 years after its publication. Bound in original blue cloth with embossed Columbia University seal to front board, & gilt lettering to spine. No dustjacket. Moderate handling wear (the book appears to have been well-read by Professor White), otherwise overall a nice clean tight solid hardcover copy. 643pp. Important association copy & uncommon first edition of a key volume of plant evolutionary biology. One of the most important books in 20th-century botany. RARE thus.