The cultivation of rice in Japan has suffered from damage caused by baka­ nae disease, in which rice seedlings show abnormal growth (elongation) as the result of infection by a plant pathogen. Investigation of the taxonomy of this pathogen led to the commencement of gibberellin (GA) research among Japanese plant pathologists, who later identified it as Gibberella jujikuroi, its other name being Fusarium moniliforme. In 1926, Kurosawa demon­ strated the occurrence of an active principle in the culture media of fungus that showed the same symptoms as those of the rice disease. In 1938, this finding was followed by the successful isolation of the active principles as crystals from the culture filtrate. This was achieved by the Japanese agri­ cultural chemists Yabuta and Sumiki, of The University of Tokyo, who named these active principles gibberellins A and B. Following World War II, this discovery attracted the interest of scientists around the world, and research on GA was pursued on a worldwide scale. One of the most outstanding discoveries in GA research after the isolation of GA as the metabolite of the plant pathogen must be the isolation and characterization of GAs from tissues of higher plants by the MacMillan group, West and Phinney, and the Tokyo University group in 1958 and 1959. Thus, GAs have been recognized as one of the most important classes of plant hormones.

Table of Contents:
1. Historical Aspects of Gibberellins.- I. Organ Specificity and Dwarfism.- 2. Organ-Specific Gibberellins in Rice: Roles and Biosynthesis.- 3. Gibberellin Metabolism in Maize: Tissue Specificity.- 4. Gibberellins from the Tassel, Cob, ‘Seed,’ Silk, and Pollen of Maize.- 5. Gibberellin Mutants in Pisum and Lathyrus.- II. Biosynthetic Enzymes.- 6. The Relationship of Different Gibberellin Biosynthetic Pathways in Cucurbita maxima Endosperm and Embryos and the Purification of a C-20 Oxidase from the Endosperm.- 7. Enzymatic 3?-Hydroxylation of Gibberellins A20 and A5.- 8. Partial Characterization of the Gibberellin 3?-Hydroxylase from Immature Seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris.- 9. Gibberellin Metabolism in Cell-Free Preparations from Phaseolus coccineus.- 10. Gibberellin Biosynthetic Enzymes and the Regulation of Gibberellin Concentration.- III. Molecular Aspects.- 11. Gibberellin A3-Regulated ?-Amylase Synthesis and Calcium Transport in the Endoplasmic Reticulum of Barley Aleurone Cells.- 12. Rice ?-Amylase and Gibberellin Action—A Personal View.- 13. Gibberellin Production and Action During Germination of Wheat.- 14. Probing Gibberellin Receptors in the Avena fatua Aleurone.- 15. A Minireview on the Immunoassay for Gibberellins.- IV. Physiology and Metabolism.- 16. Physiology of Gibberellins in Relation to Floral Initiation and Early Floral Differentiation.- 17. Role of Endogenous Gibberellins During Fruit and Seed Development.- 18. Correlations Between Apparent Rates of ent-Kaurene Biosynthesis and Parameters of Growth and Development in Pisum sativum.- 19. Gibberellins and the Regulation of Shoot Elongation in Woody Plants.- 20. The Gibberellin Control of Cell Elongation.- 21. The role of Gibberellin in the Formation of Onion Bulbs.- 22. Gibberellin Requirementfor the Normal Growth of Roots.- 23. Effects of Gibberellin A3 on Growth and Tropane Alkaloid Synthesis in Ri Transformed Plants of Datura innoxia.- 24. Biochemical and Physiological Aspects of Gibberellin Conjugation.- 25. Metabolism of [3H]Gibberellin A4 and [2H]Gibberellin A4 in Cell Suspension Cultures of Rice, Orygza sativa cv. Nihonbare.- V. Light Effects.- 26. Stem Growth and Gibberellin Metabolism in Spinach in Relation to Photoperiod.- 27. Phytochrome Mediation of Gibberellin Metabolism and Epicotyl Elongation in Cowpea, Vigna sinensis L..- 28. Role of Gibberellins in Phytochrome-Mediated Lettuce Seed Germination.- VI. Growth Retardants.- 29. Inhibitors of Gibberellin Biosynthesis: Applications in Agriculture and Horticulture.- 30. Studies on the Action of the Plant Growth Regulators BX-112, DOCHC, and DOCHC-Et.- 31. Studies on Sites of Action of the Plant Growth Retardant 4?- Chloro-2?-(?-Hydroxybenzyl)isonicotinanilide (Inabenfide) in Gibberellin Biosynthesis.- 32. Effects of the Growth Retardant Uniconazole-P on Endogenous Levels of Hormones in Rice Plants.- 33. Inconsistency Between Growth and Endogenous Levels of Gibberellins, Brassinosteroids, and Sterols in Pisum sativum Treated with Uniconazole Antipodes.- VII. Applied Aspects.- 34. Gibberellin Increases Cropping Efficiency in Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.).- 35. Prospects for Gibberellin Control of Vegetable Production in the Tropics.- 36. Gibberellin-Induced Flowering and Morphological Changes in Taro Plants.- VIII. Antheridiogens.- 37. Antheridiogens of Schizaeaceous Ferns: Structures, Biological Activities, and Biosynthesis.- 38. Antheridiogen, Gibberellin, and the Control of Sex Differentiation in Gametophytes of the Fern Lygodium japonicum.- 39. Synthetic Pathways to Fern Antheridiogensfrom Gibberellins.