Book excerpt: This account examines plant translocation specifically in the phloem (the tissue that conducts the products of photosynthesis and their metabolytes). It was first published in 1973 and gives a review of the well-established facts, whilst interpreting them in the light of the author's own theory of the mechanism. Professor Canny has produced numerous summaries of published data and recast quantitative information so that material that was scattered throughout the literature and difficult to compare sits together in an easily accessible form. The author has taken care to bring to the attention of the reader important passages from classical works, as well as writings on translocation from the sixties and seventies. The author writes in a lively style that is at once informative and provocative, and the book will appeal to those interested in the historical development of the many exciting and often conflicting theories of phloem transport.