Flowering and fruiting are key processes in the biology of higher plants, ensuring the transfer of genetic material from one generation to the next. In addition, as almost all of the world's agricultural and horticultural industries depend on the production of flowers, fruits and seeds, the study of the reproductive biology of cultivated plants is of fundamental importance to humankind. Surprisingly, therefore, this topic has received relatively little attention from environmental physiologists compared with studies on the growth and development of vegetative structures. This book, based on a meeting held by the Environmental Physiology Group of the Society of Experimental Biology, sets out to correct this deficiency. The topic is given a broad and comprehensive treatment, with chapters covering the onset of flowering through to the development and growth of fruits and seeds, and finally to ecological and evolutionary aspects of fruiting. This volume will therefore serve as a useful introduction to the various aspects of flowering and fruiting and will also provide a thorough general overview of the subject for students and researchers alike.

"To challenge the reader to even try to understand the complexity of reproductive development of plants is a formidable task. Yet, the 11 chapters of this book do so admirably by presenting a palatable and potent distillate of the essentials of nature and control of plant reproduction." T. T. Kozlowski, BioScience

"...quite likely that this book may fill a niche in a course in plant reproductive biology, particularly since it brings together quite a bit of information on the later stages of plant reproduction." Judith Thomas, Plant Science Bulletin