Plant sexuality Male and female Messy sex A priori Commentary

Rudolf Jakob Camerarius botany

Plant sexuality

• Rudolf Jakob Camerarius
• determined experimentally
• plants reproduce
• sexually.
• He removed their pistils and stamens;
• he separated male from female;
• he found that each was needed
• for the plants to set viable seed.
• Having identified the parts
• new plants could be hybridized—
• conceived by man’s art
• instead of nature’s chance.

Male and female

• Some flowers have both male and female parts;
• some have only male or only female parts.
• Some plants have a mix of male and female flowers;
• some have a mix
• where some flowers are only male,
• some are only female,
• and some are both male and female.

Messy sex

• In front of our house
• two Chinese Pistache—
• a large male and a small female—
• perform their annual ballet.
• In the spring the male develops
• immense pollen fronds
• that carpet our driveway
• cover our cars
• stick to the soles of our shoes
• and track into our home.
• In the summer the female bears
• bushes of small red nuts
• too small for even the squirrels
• that hang on after the leaves
• until the winter winds knock them underfoot
• where they crackle as we step on them.

A priori

• Simply because it’s so prevalent,
• we know that sex confers
• an evolutionary advantage.
• Similarly, it’s easy
• for us to see red berries
• among green leaves,
• and fats and sweets taste good,
• and bleeding hurts,
• and falling in love is normal,
• although we must observe
• that having an evolutionary advantage
• doesn’t mean it’s good for you.