original book, Pickard asserts that "If asked to choose the scientific report which most clearly marks the beginning of the modern study of plant growth, a great many botanists would select Charles Darwin's The Power of Movement in Plants." She reviews the influence of Darwin's techniques here on later research by Boysen Jensen, Frits Went, and others that ultimately led to the discovery of auxin as the growth principle and notes that Darwin pioneered the use of the coleoptile (which in Darwin's time was called a cotyledon) in plant growth studies. References External links 1880 non-fiction books Botany books Books by Charles Darwin 1880 in biology English-language books John Murray (publishing house) books