Physiology of growth and development in horticultural plants /

Includes bibliographical references and index

"Higher plants are complex dynamic organisms with an enormous degree of coordination among cells and tissues for their orderly growth and development. They have a distinctive developmental pattern involving continuous initiation and growth of organs throughout their lifespan. Although the organization of various plant organs is under the genetic control, the overall structure including the shape, size and pattern of roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, etc. can be highly variable depending on the environment in which they are growing. The cells sense and respond to a wide variety of external (light, temperature, moisture and gravity) and internal (phytohormones, biomolecules) signals which trigger a series of physiological and developmental processes that enable them to react to changing conditions in the growing environment. Plants are capable of synthesizing their food through the process of photosynthesis using the energy from sunlight, CO2 from air and water and minerals from the soil (autotrophs)"--