This volume on conifer reproductive biology is intended as a text supplement for plant biology courses. It is timely because knowledge of model flowering plants is expanding so fast that each new plant biology text has less written on conifers than the last.

When it comes to reproduction, gymnosperms are deeply weird. Cycads and co- fers have drawn out reproduction: at least 13 genera take over a year from polli- tion to fertilization. Since they don't apparently have any selection mechanism by which to discriminate among pollen tubes prior to fertilization, it is natural to w- der why such a delay in reproduction is necessary. Claire Williams' book celebrates such oddities of conifer reproduction. She has written a book that turns the context of many of these reproductive quirks into deeper questions concerning evolution. The origins of some of these questions can be traced back Wilhelm Hofmeister's 1851 book, which detailed the revolutionary idea of alternation of generations. This alternation between diploid and haploid generations was eventually to become one of the key unifying ideas in plant evolution. Dr. Williams points out that alter- tion of generations in conifers shows strong divergence in the evolution of male and female gametes, as well as in the synchronicity of male and female gamete development. How are these coordinated to achieve fertilization? Books on conifer reproduction are all too rare. The only major work in the last generation was Hardev Singh's 1978 Embryology of Gymnosperms, a book that summarized the previous century's work. Being a book primarily about embry- ogy, it stopped short of putting conifer reproduction in a genetic or evolutionary context.

Only current book on conifer reproduction Author is a recognized expert in the field Fills an important gap in botanical knowledge Commodity value of conifers is significant Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Inhalt
Conifer Reproductive Biology Overview.- Introducing Conifers.- The Diplohaplontic Life Cycle.- Consequences of Heterospory.- Separate Female and Male Meioses.- The Female Gametophyte Inside the Ovule.- The Male Gametophyte Enclosed in a Pollen Wall.- Pollination and Fertilization.- Syngamy, Embryo Development and Seed Dispersal.- Mating System Dynamics: Form Versus Chance.- The Dynamic Wind-Pollinated Mating System.- The Embryo Lethal System.