The goals of INTRODUCTORY BOTANY: PLANTS, PEOPLE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT are to share with beginning botany students an appreciation of the diverse organisms we call plants and to help students understand how scientists think, how they approach and solve problems, and how they obtain scientific knowledge about our world. The overall theme of this text is the role of plants in the biosphere - and in keeping with that theme, related environmental issues are integrated into each chapter. The environmental emphasis, which is unique among introductory botany texts, provides students with relevancy and kindles their interest in plants. A second theme, botany as a scientific process, is also stressed throughout.