The book entitled “Biosphere: Forms and Functions”, the Second Volume of Professor B.N. Verma Festschrift series contains 16 research articles concerned with heterotrophic fungi, Pteridophytes and higher plants. The ethnomedicinal values of some common vascular Cryptogams, the Pteridophyte, in the Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan have been discussed. Some horticultural crops and their biotechnological renaissance, plant activity in anaerobic environment under water, reclamation and management of alkali soils and plant diversity in India have been looked in to. Developing weevil resistance in an economic plant like sweet potato through tissue culture technique and improvement of protein quality as well as quantity in French bean are important achievements of biotechnology, this has been discussed in details. Antimicrobial activity of spices cultivated in India, Ayurvedic Pharmacopaeial plant resources of Capparidaceae and the role of temperature on plants with special reference to wheat has been enumerated. The seedling diseases due to storage fungi of the crop seeds, the associated metabolic disorders, study of mycoflora in plants belonging to the family Umbelliferae and taxonomical as well as ethno mycological observations on edible mushrooms of Arunachal Pradesh have been well described. The structure and behavior of eukaryotic chromosomes in Radish and overexploitation of Victoria Park in Gujarat causing to degradation of the forest are some of the contributions which have been given due place in this the compendium along with experts criticism over review of embryological studies in the genus Alysicarpus. The book would be useful as textbook to advanced undergraduate students and to postgraduate students and as a reference book to the scientists working on basic as well as the applied aspects of plants.
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