The metamorphosis of plants

Two hundred years ago the German scientist J. W. von Goethe described the metamorphosis of plants as an open secret. When studying the plant world today, can the scientist penetrate to the inside of nature? Is it possible, by putting the microscope on one side for a moment, to go beyond the conventional methods of plant analysis and learn to think as nature thinks?By applying the Goethean scientific method -- the chief tools of which are not the microscope but unbiased thinking and applied imagination -- the authors have shown how accurate naked-eye observation of leaf, stem, and flower forms can reveal so much that is hidden from conventional microscopic analysis. Illustrated with 31 line drawings by the authors.