Review by Choice Review
Carnivorous Plants is an essential review of numerous recent studies on the evolution and systematics, physiology, and ecology of insectivorous plants. The field has come a long way since the early works of Darwin (1875) and--more recently--Juniper, Robins, and Joel 's The Carnivorous Plants (1989). Ellison (Harvard Univ.) and Adamec (Czech Academy of Sciences) enlisted 64 respected contributors to assemble 29 chapters representing a comprehensive study with a focus on current research. The book reads with a surprisingly uniform voice, yet each chapter stands on its own for those reading with specific interests. Each chapter begins with an introduction and concludes with thoughts on future research, which helps maintain consistency. Unexpected but welcome topics include the use of carnivorous plants as models for examining ecology, their uses for biotechnology and drug development, and microbiomes within plants. A few readers may find some treatments rather brief; the text does not replace past works that covered these topics in more detail, but it does serve as an important companion. The updated taxonomic index alone makes this work invaluable. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --T. Page Owen, Connecticut College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review