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The History of Allelopathy

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

Authors:
  1. R. J. Willis

    1. University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

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  • First work to document in detail the history of allelopathy
  • Material presented in English for the first time, e.g. from Latin, Indian, Chinese, Arabic sources
  • Unique insight into the historical factors which have swayed the popularity of allelopathy through the ages

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. What is Allelopathy?

    Pages 1-13

  3. Allelopathy in the Classical World – Greece and Rome

    Pages 15-37

  4. Arabic Works

    Pages 39-52

  5. Ancient India, China and Japan

    Pages 53-66

  6. Mediaeval Period and Renaissance

    Pages 67-101

  7. The Eighteenth Century – Root Excretion

    Pages 103-124

  8. Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, and His Era

    Pages 125-157

  9. The Decline of Allelopathy in the Latter Nineteenth Century

    Pages 159-194

  10. Spencer Pickering, and The Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, 1894-1921

    Pages 195-208

  11. The USDA Bureau of Soils and Its Influence

    Pages 209-249

  12. Approaching the Modern Era

    Pages 251-299

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 301-316
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Keywords

About this book

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.

Reviews

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)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    R. J. Willis

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