Information on chemical background, the cell, plant growth regulators and biochemistry have been integrated into the text where relevant, instead of chapters formally addressing this material.

* Emphasis is placed on underlying principles, rather than encyclopedic details.

* Epistemology, the how-we-know-what-we-know of plant physiology is also emphasized.

* Provides a good balance between traditional plant physiology and modern topics such as photo synthesis, plant biotechnology, and environmental physiology.