BOTANY VOLUME 1 - CELL BIOLOGY. ANATOMY. MORPHOLOGY - 2007

MORPHOLOGY

As shown in the Introduction, living organisms can be characterized as teleonomic, self-reproducing systems. This statement applies equally to microscopically small Bacteria and to significantly larger Multicellular Organisms. For instance, the giant sequoia is 10⁹ times larger than a mycoplasma Cell (Fig. 1.1). In addition to these quantitative differences, there are qualitative ones: even the sheer diversity in the external appearance of living organisms transcends the limits of imagination. Nevertheless, numerous fundamental similarities shared by all organisms point to their common origin from a single, primordial life form.

In the teleonomic systems of every species, much like in engineered machines (motors, computers, etc.), close Structural and functional relationships develop: specific structures make certain Functions possible, and vital functions presuppose corresponding structures. Uncovering this interrelation in each individual case and making it comprehensible is the primary goal of biology.

This textbook presents the general structural foundations. In the era of molecular biology, the basis for this is to be sought in the architecture of those molecules that are characteristic of All living organisms, which are the focus of Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 examines The Structure of Cells as the elementary units of life. How these cells give rise to the Tissues of multicellular higher plants is discussed in Chapter 3. The transition to increasingly larger scales involves describing the macroscopic appearance of plants, primarily exemplified by pteridophytes and seed plants (Chapter 4). These cormophytes are more familiar to us from direct observation; they also include our most important crops and useful plants.

Thus, restricting our focus to cormophytes has a didactic and economic rationale rather than an objective one. This limitation is transcended in Chapter 5, which explores the morphological organizational types of Algae, mosses, and Fungi.

Chapters 6 through 9 examine the functions of plant structures.

Acknowledgements

The accelerating pace of research makes it increasingly difficult for the author of a comprehensive text to select what should be presented to the reader from both earlier foundational knowledge and the virtually boundless, less verifiable new findings. In this endeavor, one must turn to colleagues for assistance and constructive criticism.

In this regard, and far beyond it, I must first and foremost express my profound gratitude to Wilhelm Barthlott (Bonn), Friedrich-Wilhelm Bentrup (Salzburg), Arno Bogenrieder (Freiburg), Wolfram Braune ( Jena), R. Malcolm Brown Jr. (Austin, Texas), Ingeborg Dörr (Kiel), Rudolf Hagemann (Halle), Gerd Jürgens (Tübingen), Hans Kleinig (Freiburg), Reiner Kollmann (Kiel), Ulrich Kutschera (Kassel), Uwe G. Maier (Marburg), Ulli Maier (Tübingen), Diederich Mägdefrau (Bonn), Gunther Neuhaus (Freiburg), Ralf Reski (Freiburg), David G. Robinson (Heidelberg), Rolf Rutishauser (Zürich), Hainfried Schenk (Tübingen), Eberhard Schnepf (Heidelberg), Andreas Sievers (Bonn), Thomas Speck (Freiburg), L. Andrew Staehelin (Boulder, Colorado), Ioannis Tsekos (Thessaloniki), Helmut Uhlarz (Kiel), Walter Url (Vienna), and Dieter Vogellehner (Freiburg). Finally, I am especially grateful to Focke Weberling (Ulm), author of Box 4.2 (Morphology

of Inflorescences). The book's extensive illustrative material was masterfully reworked, compiled, and modernized by Dr. Roland Spohn (Wingen).

Special thanks go to my predecessor on the textbook's authorial team, Dr. Dietrich von Denffer (Giessen); to my longtime friend Zvonko Lorković (Zagreb), who translated the Croatian edition of E. Strasburger's textbook and actively championed the merits of this book; and to my recently deceased longtime assistant and friend Heinz Falk, whose expertise in light and Electron Microscopy has left its mark on numerous illustrations throughout this edition.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude using the words of Arnold Schoenberg (from the Preface to his *Theory of Harmony*): "This book I have learned from my pupils." Indeed, I cannot imagine how I could have undertaken the revision of the structural sections of Eduard Strasburger’s epoch-making textbook without the countless discussions with students over the course of several decades of my academic teaching career.

Class="right">Peter Sitte

Merzhausen, February 2002