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Home , Fertilisation of Orchids

190 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 134

Botany Darwin’s Most Wonderful Plants: A Tour of His Botanical Legacy By Ken Thompson. 2019. University of Chicago Press. 256 pages, 25.00 USD, Cloth. Within the last two dec- then the director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, ades, several books have United Kingdom. been published that focus Thompson brings the reader interesting tidbits on single aspects of Charles from Darwin’s work as well as modern discoveries Darwin’s life. Examples in- in the same vein. For example, in relating Darwin’s clude his eldest daughter work with plant carnivory, the author describes a (Keynes 2002), his barna- plant in the genus Philcoxia with sticky underground cle research (Stott 2003), leaves that traps and consumes nematodes, a pro- and his work on coral reefs cess that was unheard of in Darwin’s time (p. 155; (Dobbs 2005). Author Ken see Pereira et al. 2012). Thompson seems to con- Thompson continues this tinue where Darwin leaves off. In the same spirit of trend by exploring in de- Darwin, he highlights material that Darwin would tail Darwin’s work with have been thrilled to observe and study himself, and plants in Darwin’s Most Wonderful Plants: A Tour of relates discoveries made years later to Darwin’s orig- His Botanical Legacy. Darwin is, of course, most fa- inal observations. mously known for his book of In Chapter 4, Thompson recounts an observa- (Darwin 1859) and many people are likely unaware tion made by Darwin in the 1860s that was not con- that he spent many years late in his life studying firmed for over 100 years. Hooker was able to pro- plants. Thompson succeeds in shedding some light on vide Darwin with numerous orchids to occupy his this often-overlooked part of Darwin’s life. “hothouse” at to facilitate Darwin’s The book is divided into five chapters, with each further experimentation and observation. One such chapter covering one or more of Darwin’s plant books. unique orchid was from Chapters 1 (Room at the Top), 2 (Slow Learners), and 3 Madagascar. Darwin wrote, (The Biter Bite) discuss, respectively, Darwin’s books A green, whip-like nectary of astonishing titled On the Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants length hangs down beneath the labellum. In (1865), The Power of Movement in Plants (1880), several flowers sent me by Mr. Bateman I found and Insectivorous Plants (1875). Chapter 4 (Sex and the nectaries eleven and a half inches long, with the Single Plant) encompasses three books: On the only the lower inch and a half filled with . Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign What can be the use, it may be asked, of a nec- Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and on the Good tary of such disproportionate length? (p. 162) Effects of Intercrossing (1862); The Effects of Cross Darwin loved these sorts of questions, and he pre- and Self-fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom (1876); dicted that a moth with a long proboscis would be the and The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the likely pollinator. Indeed, 40 years later, the predicted Same Species (1877). Finally, Chapter 5 (The Mysteries pollinator, the hawkmoth morganii var. of the Cabbage Patch) discusses The Variation of Ani­ praedicta, was discovered in Madagascar, but a dem- mals and Plants Under Domestication (1868). The book onstration of the event was not observed also includes these additional sections: Afterword, until 1997 (p. 164; see Arditti et al. 2012). Sources, Photo Credits, Thanks, and Index. Thompson’s brief discussion regarding Gregor The author thoroughly covers each of Darwin’s Mendel (Augustinian friar whose work on plants plant books with clarity and intrigue. Darwin stud- led him to be described as the “Father of Modern ied plants late in life, well after his publication of The Genetics”) and is well worth the read Origin of Species (Darwin 1859), at Down House, (pp. 211–213). Darwin and Mendel were working at where he had green houses and garden plots to set the same time but never met. Darwin was unaware of up experiments and leisurely observe plant behav- Mendel’s pea experiments; however, Mendel might iour with the help of his staff, children, and grandchil- have been aware of Darwin’s work but never made dren. Darwin also had plant specimens sent to him the connection. Darwin was rumoured to have had a and continued his massive correspondence effort to copy of Mendel’s famous pea paper (Mendel 1865), glean information from botanical experts to learn all but the paper remained “uncut” and was never read. he could about plants and plant behaviour, especially Alas, this account appears to be an urban myth, as no from his botanist friend Sir , copy of the pea paper was found in Darwin’s library. 2020 Book Reviews 191

Nonetheless, and genetics would have had a Acknowledgement: I thank Susan Hagen for im- different history had these two great minds connected. proving the manuscript. See Johnson (2012) and Clark (2017) for additional details on this fascinating story. Literature Cited Thompson’s book, Darwin’s Most Wonderful Arditti, J., J. Elliott, I. Kitching, and L. Wasserthal. Plants, is a must read for anyone interested in Dar­ 2012. ‘Good Heavens what insect can suck it’– Charles Darwin, Angraecum sesquipedale and Xanthopan mor- win’s botanical work, or in the many facets of Dar­ ganii praedicta. Botanical Journal of the Linnean So­ci­ win’s life. Sir Joseph Hooker’s words describing ety 169: 403–432. Dar­win’s botanical work provide a lovely summary: Clark, H.O., Jr. 2017. [Book Review] The Quotable Dar­ Darwin still works away at his experiments and win. Sonoran Herpetologist 30: 81. his theory, and startles us by the surprising dis- Darwin, C. 1859. by Means of coveries he now makes in ; his work on , or, The Preservation of Favoured the fertilisation of orchids is quite unique— Races in the Struggle for Life. John Murray, London, United Kingdom. there is nothing in the whole range of botanical Dobbs, D. 2005. Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander literature to compare with it, and this, with his Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral. Pantheon, New other works … raise him without doubt to the York, New York, USA. position of the first naturalist in Europe, indeed Johnson, P. 2012. Darwin: Portrait of a Genius. Penguin I question if he will not be regarded as great as Books, London, United Kingdom. any that ever lived; his powers of observation, Keynes, R. 2002. Annie’s Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter memory and judgement seem prodigious, his and Human Evolution. Fourth Estate, London, United industry indefatigable and his sagacity in plan- King­dom. ning experiments, fertility of resources and care Mendel, G. 1865. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Ver­ handlungen des Naturforschenden Vereins zu Brunn in conducting them are unrivalled. (p. 167) (Ahhandlungen) 4: 3–47. Thompson’s work highlights an aspect of Dar­ Pereira, C.G., D.P. Almenara, C.E. Winter, P.W. Fritsch, win’s life that is not as well-known as his evolution­ H. Lambers, and R.S. Oliveira. 2012. Underground ary foundations but brings to light the idea that Dar­ leaves of Philcoxia trap and digest nematodes. win’s simple musings about the natural world have Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109: set in motion entire scientific disciplines tackled to- 1154–1158. day by modern researchers. Charles Darwin was ahead Stott, R. 2003. Darwin and the Barnacle: the Story of One Tiny Creature and History’s Most Spectacular Scientific of his time in many areas of scientific thought, and Breakthrough. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, we continue to learn new insights about his life every New York, USA. day. Note: all of Darwin’s written work can be found Howard O. Clark, Jr. at http://darwin-online.org.uk/majorworks.html and Colibri Ecological Consulting, LLC, cor­respondence at http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk. Fresno, California, USA ©The author. This work is freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).