Although the hybrid discipline of biochemical systematics has been a distinct field of study for only about ten years, it has had a telling impact on taxonomic practice. Nevertheless, the chemical approach, with its emphasis on the exact, tends to exlude much of the wealth of natural phenomena that are the backbone of taxonomy. It is necessary for the chemist and biochemist to acquire a better ...

In his commentary on the state of systematics today, Crisci (2006) adds his perspectives to a series of such commentaries published in the pages of Systematic Botany (e.g., Kruckeberg 1997; Lammers 1999; Landrum 2001). He associates the rise of molecular biology with the decline in conventional plant taxonomy and makes a number of assertions about cause and effect in systematics in particular a...

Ana M. Džamić , Marina D. Soković , Mihailo S. Ristić , Slavica M. Grujić , Ksenija S. Mileski , Petar D. Marin 1 Department of Morphology and Systematics of Plants, Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden "Jevremovac", Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. Department of Plant Physiology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", Uni...

Learning to identify organisms is extraordinarily difficult, yet trained field biologists can quickly and easily identify organisms at a glance. They do this without recourse to the use of traditional characters or identification devices. Achieving this type of recognition accuracy is a goal of many courses in plant systematics. Teaching plant identification is difficult because of variability ...

Isidro Méndez-Larios. M.S. in Plant Biology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)). Graduate Student, Unidad de Biotecnología y Prototipos (UBIPRO), Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, UNAM, Mexico. Address: Av. De los Barrios No 1, Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, Estado de México. 54090 México. email: [email protected] José Luis Villaseñor. Ph.D. in Plant Systematics, T...

The continuing study of early angiosperms from the Yixian Formation (approximately 125 Ma) of northeastern China has yielded a second early angiosperm genus. This report is a detailed account of this early flowering plant and recognizes earlier reports of similar fossils from Russia and China. Entire plants, including roots, stems, and branches terminating in fruits are presented and reconstruc...