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.