Physiology of Woody Plants

Physiology is a complex discipline, and this timely work manages to survey the field with authority and directness. It is balanced and well-written, its full-colour laminated boards almost giving it the flavour of a coffee-table book. There are 13 main divisions, each covering a specific function – vegetative growth, photosynthesis, transpiration and water balance, and so on. The use of illustrations is judicious. Photographs, line diagrams and graphs and scattered through the text and the production of the volume ensures that the pages look well-designed with a sensible balance between text and pictures. It is not all good news: the paper is barely fit for its purpose in this book, the reproduction of half-tones often being grey and lifeless, while the print shows through from one page to the next. There are some important reminders in this book. Annual rings are not necessarily annual, for additional rings may be produced if a tree slows in growth due to environmental factors (like drought) or damage (through fire). The discussion covers such points well. Trees raise sap above the height supported by atmospheric pressure, and the current controversy surrounding the molecular cohesion concept is well summarized. The authors briefly remind the reader of the history of the theory, being expounded in detail by Askenasy and by Dixon and Joly whose papers appeared in 1895. Physiology is a time-honoured topic, and the number of earlier references in the bibliographies show how conscientiously the authors have covered the steady growth of the science over the last two centuries.