Book ID: CBB140728986

Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants (2017)

unapi

Taiz, Lincoln (Author)
Taiz, Lee (Author)


Oxford University Press


Publication Date: 2017
Physical Details: 544 pages
Language: English

Sex in animals has been known for at least ten thousand years, and this knowledge was put to good use during animal domestication in the Neolithic period. In stark contrast, sex in plants wasn't discovered until the late 17th century, long after the domestication of crop plants. Even after its discovery, the "sexual theory" continued to be hotly debated and lampooned for another 150 years, pitting the "sexualists" against the "asexualists". Why was the notion of sex in plants so contentious for so long? "Flora Unveiled" is a deep history of perceptions about plant gender and sexuality, beginning in the Ice Age and ending in the middle of the nineteenth century, with the elucidation of the complete plant life cycle. Linc and Lee Taiz show that a gender bias that plants are unisexual and female (a "one-sex model") prevented the discovery of plant sex and delayed its acceptance long after the theory was definitively proven. The book explores the various sources of this gender bias, beginning with women's role as gatherers, crop domesticators, and the first farmers. In the myths and religions of the Bronze and Iron Ages, female deities were strongly identified with flowers, trees, and agricultural abundance, and during Middle Ages and Renaissance, this tradition was assimilated into Christianity in the person of Mary. The one-sex model of plants continued into the Early Modern Period, and experienced a resurgence during the eighteenth century Enlightenment and again in the nineteenth century Romantic movement. Not until Wilhelm Hofmeister demonstrated the universality of sex in the plant kingdom was the controversy over plant sex finally laid to rest. Although "Flora Unveiled" focuses on the discovery of sex in plants, the history serves as a cautionary tale of how strongly and persistently cultural biases can impede the discovery and delay the acceptance of scientific advances.

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Reviewed By

Essay Review Jim Endersby (2018) Acknowledging Limits. Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 801-805). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB140728986/

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Authors & Contributors
Guerrini, Luigi
Antonovics, Janis
Clode, Danielle
Dietz, Bettina
Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, Vera V.
Dröscher, Ariane
Journals
Archives of Natural History
Bruniana & Campanelliana: Ricerche Filosofiche e Materiali Storico-testuali
Circumscribere: International Journal for the History of Science
Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Publishers
Cambridge University Press
Bodleian Library
Böhlau Verlag
Brepols Publishers
Johns Hopkins University Press
Milkweed Editions
Concepts
Plants
Botany
Science and literature
Plants; reproduction
Gardens
Science and gender
People
Cesi, Federico
Darwin, Charles Robert
Galilei, Galileo
Shakespeare, William
Barbauld, Anna Letitia
Dal Pozzo, Cassiano
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
16th century
17th century
Renaissance
20th century
Places
Great Britain
Australia
China
Bohemia
Rome (Italy)
Germany
Institutions
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome)
Institut de France, Paris
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