Case studies in plant taxonomy

Tod Stuessy has compiled a remarkable first-of-its-kind casebook that will help students to improve their tasonomic skills. Using case studies taken from scientific literature available in most colleges and universities, Stuessy guides beginners through various tasks such as the recognition of similarities and differences in sets of comparative data and their interpretation and meaning with reference to the various ranks in the Linnaean hierarchy. Building on his monumental book Plant Taxonomy-that synthesized the extensive recent literature on systematic biology with respect to plant taxonomy and that included the most comprehensive bibliograpy of systematic botany in the last twenty-five years-Stuessy again helps students to recognize the importance and relevance of systematic botany to biology and to modern society in this new work. Case Studies in Plant Taxonomy is essential for the development of intuitive pattern recognition skills, a necessary step in formulating intial hypothese of relationships crucial to modern plant taxonomy. Designed to help students make better taxonomic judgments, this case book contains exercises and case studies which describe how to recognize similarities and differences in sets of comparative data. It explains interpretation with reference to the various ranks in the Linnean hierarchy.