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This book had its beginnings about thirty-five years ago, when I migrated to Australia from Canada, and began a doctoral study concerning the role of allelopathy in forests of the eucalypt known in Australia as mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), under the supervision of Dr Kingsley Rowan and the late Dr David Ashton. In first assembling materials for the usual survey of the relevant literature, I came to realise that the relative youth of Australia as a nation and its geographical remoteness were to be barriers in fully dealing with historical concepts. At times, the simplest option was to buy the requisite antiquarian books, if they were not readily available from local libraries. I remember that one of the first such works that I acquired was de Candolle's Physiologie Végétale, and it was then that I began to learn that the history of allelopathy had been only superficially investigated. Allelopathy is a topic which has been very much in the limelight of plant ecology in the past few decades. It is a controversial topic which has a surprisingly large body of literature associated with it, yet the mere existence of allelopathy as an ecological process is still considered doubtful by many. Most students of allelopathy seem to have assumed that the topic has been c- menced in 1937 with the work of Hans Molisch, or to those more historically minded, the theories of A. P.
List of contents
What is Allelopathy?.- Allelopathy in the Classical World - Greece and Rome.- Arabic Works.- Ancient India, China and Japan.- Mediaeval Period and Renaissance.- The Eighteenth Century - Root Excretion.- Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and His Era.- The Decline of Allelopathy in the Latter Nineteenth Century.- Spencer Pickering, and The Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, 1894-1921.- The USDA Bureau of Soils and Its Influence.- Approaching the Modern Era.
Summary
This book had its beginnings about thirty-five years ago, when I migrated to Australia from Canada, and began a doctoral study concerning the role of allelopathy in forests of the eucalypt known in Australia as mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans), under the supervision of Dr Kingsley Rowan and the late Dr David Ashton. In first assembling materials for the usual survey of the relevant literature, I came to realise that the relative youth of Australia as a nation and its geographical remoteness were to be barriers in fully dealing with historical concepts. At times, the simplest option was to buy the requisite antiquarian books, if they were not readily available from local libraries. I remember that one of the first such works that I acquired was de Candolle’s Physiologie Végétale, and it was then that I began to learn that the history of allelopathy had been only superficially investigated. Allelopathy is a topic which has been very much in the limelight of plant ecology in the past few decades. It is a controversial topic which has a surprisingly large body of literature associated with it, yet the mere existence of allelopathy as an ecological process is still considered doubtful by many. Most students of allelopathy seem to have assumed that the topic has been c- menced in 1937 with the work of Hans Molisch, or to those more historically minded, the theories of A. P.
Additional text
From the reviews:
"Allelopathy, the study of the chemical interactions of plants, often receives little attention in botanical curricula. Willis (Univ. of Melbourne, Australia) presents a thorough, readable history on this subject, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence in research. … this well-written book presents a lucid history of the development of an important scientific concept. It is a classic example of how significant ideas are a collaboration of scientists past and present. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professionals in botany or agriculture." (M. S. Zavada, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (10), June, 2008)
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From the reviews:
"Allelopathy, the study of the chemical interactions of plants, often receives little attention in botanical curricula. Willis (Univ. of Melbourne, Australia) presents a thorough, readable history on this subject, which has enjoyed a recent resurgence in research. ... this well-written book presents a lucid history of the development of an important scientific concept. It is a classic example of how significant ideas are a collaboration of scientists past and present. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professionals in botany or agriculture." (M. S. Zavada, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (10), June, 2008)
