1694: Plant sexuality - The book of science

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.

Rudolf Jakob Camerarius surgically removed the parts of caster oil plants, maize, spinach, and dog’s mercury, and he physically isolated male from female plants to establish his hypothesis that plants reproduce, like animals, sexually. Within twenty-five years, Thomas Fairchild was selectively breeding flowers. By 1865, Gregor Mendel had carefully cross-pollinated thousands of garden peas to demonstrate the laws of heredity, the basis today of genetics.