Life Histories of Familiar Plants

by Ward, John J.

ISBN: 9789354614996
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Imprint : Daya Publishing House
Year : 2023
Price : Rs. 7895.00
Biblio : xx+204p., 88 plts., 23 cm

About The Book

Supported with numerous illustrations, this work of lasting value provides copious details about the structure and growth of various plants from field as well as garden, and the relationship of these details to animal life. Nature lovers and investigators, as also the students of horticulture and floriculture could discover solutions to many unsolved problems elating to a vast variety of plants including: weeds, grasses, flowers etc-besides the species specific botanical and other information. Drawing widely from the generally recognised principles of evolution, the volume seeks to interpret the meaning of the diverse forms of all familiar plants in a simple language, keeping away as far as possible from the complex and technical terminology.

Table of Contents

Contents Chapter 1: The Wild Camomile: A Weed of Eminence; The advent of the cammomile, On the rubbish heap, A veritable sea of daisy blooms, Eminence in rank, Its relations, The daisy-like inflorescence under a magnifying lens, Primitive flowers, Insects and pollen, Nectar, Plants the first advertisers, Specialisation for insect visitors, Origin of petals, Saving the times of the busy bee, Fertilisation, Why daisies are so lasting as cut “Flowers”, The white florets, Mimicry of a flower, Foliage, Difference in the behaviour of the camomile and field daisy at night; Chapter 2: The Sycamore “Key”; The boisterous wind and the sycamore trees, Its seeds or “Keys”, Provision for its offspring, Dispersion of the seeds, The young root and the nurse-leaves, First pair of true leaves, Buds and branches, The pendent stalk of flowers, A veritable flies’ picnic, Flowers a fly speciality, The scheme for pollination, Unisexual flowers and cross-fertilisation, Hairs from the body of the bee, “Keys” in the process of manufacture, The seedling plant within the “Key”, Development of “Wings”, The whirling flight; Chapter 3: The Common Arum or Cuckoo-Pint; Science reveals economy in the beauties of nature, A function for every detail associated with the organism, The quaint form of the inflorescence, A veritable army of midge-flies within, How the arum starts life, Development, Function of the leaves, Meaning of the quaint floral structure, The midge-fly, Drunken orgies within the bloom, Buried in the yellow pollen dust, Temperature inside the bloom, Effects of the cooler air, The reason of the arum’s generosity, Arum not a flower, Structural details, The purple club, How the midges are entrapped, The flowers mature, Cross-fertilisation, Intoxicating nectar, Showers of pollen, How the pollen in conveyed, Taking in the signpost, Brilliant red berries, A self-contradictory theory, Thrushes development of a power to resist poison, A successful plant more to nature than a foolish animal; Chapter 4: Catkins; All forest trees bear flowers, Plants that do not appear to produce flowers, Fruit necessarily a product of the flower, Hazel catkins and hedge-nuts, The catkin a pendent spike of male flowers, Female catkins, Bee and catkins, Insects not desired, Little shelves loaded with pollen, Wind and clouds of pollen, Structure beautifully adapted for action of the wind, Pollen blown to distant towns, Size of pollen grains, Stigmas and pollination, Their crimson colour, Germination of the pollen grain, Cross-pollination, Alder catkins, Flowers of the ash and the elm, The perfect unity that underlies all nature’s processes; Chapter 5: Sensitive Plants; The “Woolly Bear” or larva of the tiger-moth and its sense of touch, The hedgehog, Defensive actions of caterpillar and hedgehog, Sense of touch in plants, The sensitive plant, Grazing animals and sensitive plants, Tempting green leaves instantly become scrubby fare, Protective movements, A caterpillar amongst the leaves, How the