Renault-Miskovsky, Spores et Pollen.

Condition : very good, small stains on top edge, otherwise as new.

Illustrations : 270 illustrations and photos in black and white and in colour.

Spores and pollen is proving to be an encyclopaedic reference work, eagerly awaited by palynologists. Until now, no work of this type, so abundantly illustrated, was present in the French scientific literature. All aspects of palynology are covered in this book, which is divided into two parts. In the first part, the genesis and dispersal of spores and pollen grains is traced as well as their role in plant reproduction and morphology. The easy-to-use determination key covers most European plant taxa. This key is remarkably illustrated by abundant photographs which show, in parallel, the plant in its natural environment and the spore or pollen it produces observed under a light microscope. Sometimes scanning electron microscope observations are also included, but it is regrettable that there are not enough of these. The second part covers the different properties and uses of pollen: its biological interest and its role in the lives of bees and humans (apitherapy and melissopalynology); its medical applications and implications (phytotherapy and pollinosis) and in aeropalynology; its agronomic role in the production of seeds and cereal, vegetable, fruit and flower crops; its use in palynostratigraphy enabling the geological history of the earth to be retraced and the various plant environments to be reconstructed, including those of prehistoric man. This very didactic book is thus indispensable to all palynologists, whether geologists, prehistorians, botanists or morphologists, but also to all naturalists wishing to be initiated into research. This book is also accompanied by a series of 40 slides showing the illustrations in the book and ends with a very complete bibliography and index.