Variation and Evolution in Plants

New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1951. [Second printing]. A few text diagrams and maps, large octavo, pp xxii, 643, a small neat signature on the front endpaper, a considerable amount of pencil lining throughout the book - marginal rather than underlining and with a few notes, otherwise quite sound and tight, blue cloth slightly worn, the spine faded and slightly bruised. [Stebbins was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. This is his most important publication, combining genetics and Darwin's theory of natural selection to describe plant speciation. It is regarded as one of the main publications which formed the core of the modern synthesis and still provides the conceptual framework for research in plant evolutionary biology; according to Ernst Mayr, "Few later works dealing with the evolutionary systematics of plants have not been very deeply affected by Stebbins' work" , and Peter Raven calls it '"he most important book on plant evolution of the 20th century'". Stebbins also researched and wrote widely on the role of hybridization and polyploidy in speciation and plant evolution; his work in this area has had a lasting influence on research in the field.] . Cloth. Good.