The fourth edition of Botany: an introduction to plant biology provides a thorough and current overview of the fundamentals of botany while retaining the important focus of natural selection, analysis of botanical phenomena, and diversity. Students are first introduced to topics that should be most familiar (plant structure), proceed to those less familiar (plant physiology and development), and conclude with topics that are likely least familiar to the introductory student (genetics, evolution, and ecology). Sections are written to be self-contained, allowing topics to be covered in various orders.