ZAŽÍMALOVÁ, Eva, PETRÁŠEK, Jan, BENKOVÁ, E. Auxin and Its Role in Plant Development. Wien: Springer-Verlag, 2014. ISBN 978-3-7091-1525-1

In this opening chapter, we ruminate upon “the auxin question”: what is auxin? It is a seemingly simple question with no simple answer. We firstly try to provide a philosophical framework for understanding the question itself. We then discuss some possible answers to the question, and examine how these answers might help to drive the future direction of auxin research. We also offer some speculations on the evolution of auxin, and how such a simple molecule may have accrued such diverse functions.