Book Reviews

In 1908, a similarly titled book. The Origin of a Land Flora, was published by F.O. Bower. This welldocumented work primarily used data obtained from major studies on comparative plant morphology (e.g. Hofmeister, Strasburger, Celakovsky) combined with available palaeobotanical information. Bower emphasized that explanations for the origin of land plants must necessarily include the question of the origin of alternation of plant generations. Bower’s classical treatment has greatly influenced the approaches to the study of land plant origins in the first half of the twentieth century. The purpose of Graham’s book, The Origin of Land Plants, is to bring together the very impressive amount of intriguing information (especially of diverse research fields origin), which has become available since Bower’s time and to reconsider theories related to plant origin in the light of recent evidence.