A Garden of Marvels Read online

  Nicolson, Marjorie Hope. Pepys’ Diary and the New Science. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1965.

  Niklas, Karl J. The Evolutionary Biology of Plants. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1997.

  Northcoast Environmental Center. “Rare Habitat Threatened by Imported Weeds.” February 2010, http://yournec.org/content/rare-habitat-threatened-imported-weeds, retrieved April 1, 2011.

  Olby, Robert, Origins of Mendelism. New York, Schocken Books, 1967.

  Oregon State Weed Board. Minutes, February 19-20, 2009, www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/ . . . /minutes_salem_09.pdf.

  Ornduff, Robert. “Darwin’s Botany.” Taxon 33, no. 1 (February 1984): 39–47.

  Osborne, Colin, and David Beerling. “Nature’s Green Revolution: The Remarkable Evolutionary Rise of C4 Plants.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, Biological Sciences 361, no. 1465 (January 2006): 173–94, published online Nov. 28, 2005.

  Pirozynski, K. A., and D. W. Malloch. “The Origin of Land Plants: A Matter of Mycotrophism.” Biosystems 6, no. 3 (March 1975): 153–64.

  Pollan, Michael, “Love and Lies.” National Geographic, September 9, 2009.

  Reed, Howard, and Jan Ingenhousz. Plant Physiologist, With a History of the Discovery of Photosynthesis. Reprinted from the Chronica Botanica 11, no. 5/6. Waltham, MA: Chronica Botanica; New York: Stechert-Hafner, 1950, pp. 285–396.

  Roberts, H. F. Plant Hybridization Before Mendel. 1929; reprint, New York: Hafner, 1965.

  Rousseau, Jacques. “Sébastien Vaillant, an Outstanding 18th-Century Botanist,” Regnum vegetabile 71 (1970): 195–228.

  Sachs, Julius von. History of Botany (1530–1860). Trans. Henry E. F. Garnsey, rev. Isaac Bayley Balfour. 1890; reprint, New York: Russell & Russell, 1967.

  Sacks, Oliver. “Darwin and the Meaning of Flowers.” New York Review of Books, November 20, 2008.

  Schiestl, F., and M. Ayasse. “Post-pollination Emission of a Repellent Compound in a Sexually Deceptive Orchid: A New Mechanism for Maximising Reproductive Success?” Oecologia 126, no. 4 (2001): 531–34.

  Schofield, Robert E. The Enlightened Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work 1773–1804. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.

  . The Enlightenment of Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work 1733–1773. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

  Scott, Peter. Physiology and Behaviour of Plants. Chichester, UK, and Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2008.

  Scuola Normale Superiore. “Amici” entry, http://gbamici.sns.it/eng/osservazioni/osservazionibiologiche.htm.

  Soltis, D., et al. “The Floral Genome: An Evolutionary History of Gene Duplication and Shifting Patterns of Gene Expression.” Trends in Plant Science 12, no. (August 2007): 358–67, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17658290.

  Soltis, Douglas, et al. “The Amborella Genome: An Evolutionary Reference for Plant Biology,” Genome Biology 9, no. 402 (2008), http://genomebiology.com/2008/9/3/402.

  Theissen, Gunter, et al. “A Short History of MADS-box Genes in Plants.” Plant Molecular Biology 42 (2000): 115–49, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10688133.

  Trappe, James. “A. B. Frank and Mycorrhizae: The Challenge to Evolutionary and Ecologic Theory.” Mycorrhiza 15, no. 4 (June 2005): 277–81.

  Tudge, Collin. The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter. New York: Crown, 2006.

  Twigg, John. The University of Cambridge and the English Revolution, 1625–1688. Woodbridge, UK, and Rochester, NY: Boydell Press; Cambridge: Cambridge University Library, 1990.

  Unisci. “Age-old Question on Evolution of Flowers Answered.” http://www.unisci.com/stories/20012/0615015.htm?iframe=true&width=100%&height=100%. June 15, 2001.

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Study Rewrites the Evolutionary History of C4 Grasses.” Press release, November 16, 2010, news.illinois.edu/news/10/1116paleoecology.html.

  University of Illinois. “Pros and Cons of Miscanthus.” Press release, September 14, 2010, http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=18968.

  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. “Using Plants to Clean Up Soils.” January 29, 2007.

  Waisel, Yoav, Amram Eshel, and Uzi Kafkafi, eds. Plant Roots: The Hidden Half. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1991.

  Walker, David. Energy, Plants and Man. East Sussex, UK: Oxygraphics, 1992.

  Williams, Roger. Botanophilia in Eighteenth-Century France: The Spirit of Enlightenment. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic, 2001.

  Willis, K. J., and J. C. McElwain. The Evolution of Plants. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

  Wilson, Brayton. The Growing Tree. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1970.

  Wilson, Catherine. The Invisible World: Early Modern Philosophy and the Invention of the Microscope. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

  “WWI Munitions Unearthed at D.C. Construction Site.” Washington Post, January 6, 1993.

  Index

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

  Academy of Sciences, French, 188, 189, 255, 256

  Academy of Sciences, Russian Imperial, 267

  aeration, 133, 239

  Agriculture, U.S. Department of, 8–10, 121, 128, 239, 317, 317n. See also Chaney, Rufus

  Agrobacterium bacteria, 310

  air

  altitude and, 190

  Black’s experiments with, 178–79

  evolution of earth and, 213

  fixed, 178–79, 180, 182, 187, 188

  Ingen-Housz’s experiments with, 187–88

  light’s importance to, 182

  plants as purifying, 180–82

  Priestley’s experiments with, 177–81

  roots and, 187–88

  Saussure’s experiments with, 190

  Air-Pots, 342–43

  Alcock, John, 302

  algae

  freshwater, 209

  as mixotrophs, 23n

  oil from, 341–42

  sea slugs and, 194, 196, 199, 201, 202, 203

  symbiosis of fungi and, 209

  Theophrastus’s studies and, 25

  See also eukaryotes; sea slugs

  Alyssum bertolonii, 123–25, 126–31

  Amborella trichopoda, 283, 284–85, 287, 288

  American University, decontamination of soil near, 119–21

  Amici, Giovanni Battista, 268–69

  ammonia, 107, 108, 108n, 203–4

  amphibians, 264-66. See also type of amphibian

  anatomy/dissection

  corpses for, 53

  in early Christian Rome, 55, 55n

  and human-plant analogy, 90–91

  of insects, 58–60

  of plants, 60, 64–71, 75–81, 82–88, 89–103

  Royal Society’s interest in, 58–59, 60, 61, 64–65

  at University of Bologna, 51–60

  See also Grew, Nehemiah; Malpighi, Marcello

  Anaxagoras, 27

  angiosperms

  Amborella trichopoda as link between gymnosperms and, 283

  competition with conifers, 226

  evolution of, 224, 284–89

  as hermaphrodites, 285

  importance of insects to, 295

  purpose of, 282–89

  See also flowering plants

  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), 9

  animalcules. See microorganisms

  animals

  circulation in, 95, 97, 98

  differentiation between plants and, 20–22, 70

  growth of, 70

  “how” of, 71

  importance of oxygen to, 215

  photosynthesis and, 198–202

  plants as analogous to, 28–29, 60, 71, 92, 95, 97, 98

  sea slugs as aquatic chimeras between plants and, 200


  sexual behavior of, 257–58, 270

  See also insects

  annual crops

  benefits of, 138

  farming of, 134–35

  perennial versions of, 135–48

  See also type of plant

  anthers, 248–49, 250, 251–52, 254, 269, 281, 296

  anthocyanins, 280, 314

  anthurium, 244–48

  aphids, 101, 116, 261, 325

  apical dominance, 335–36, 342

  Apollo: myth about Daphne and, 169

  archaea, 204

  Archaeopteris trees, 215

  Aristotle, 21, 24, 28, 29, 50, 55, 59, 89–90, 169

  Army Corps of Engineers, 120–21

  Army, U.S., Chemical Warfare Service of, 119–20

  aroids, 248. See also anthuriums

  arsenic, 120–21, 132

  artificial fertilization, 270

  Atkins garden petunia, 273, 274

  ATP (adenosine triphosphate), 116, 197, 198, 204

  auxin, 333–34, 335–36, 337

  bacteria

  anaerobic, 110

  and evolution of earth, 216–17

  fragrance and, 310

  nitrogen-fixing, 107, 108, 108n

  See also cyanobacteria

  Ball Horticultural Company, 271–72, 275, 279, 314

  banyan trees, 31, 77–78

  bark, 17, 25, 92, 98, 101, 105, 114, 267

  Barrow, Isaac, 45–46

  Bassi, Laura, 262

  Bauhin, Johann, 19–20

  bay laurel trees, 169

  bean plants, 108, 249

  bees, 273, 296, 302–4

  Beyer, Peter, 339–40

  Bhattacharya, Debashish, 208

  biofuels, 239. See also miscanthus

  biomass, 208n, 231–35, 344

  Black, Joseph, 178–79

  black petunias, 272, 277, 280–81, 311, 344

  Boerhaave, Hermann, 173, 255–56

  Bonnet, Charles, 261

  borametz, 18, 19–20, 21, 22–24, 27, 32, 193–94, 200

  Bosch, Carl, 108n

  Botanicalls, 322–23, 324–25

  Boyle, Robert, 43–44, 45–46, 94, 177–78

  brake fern, 121, 132

  branches

  apical dominance and, 335, 336

  and circulation of sap, 98, 99

  of conifers, 221

  of deciduous trees, 336

  development of new, 68

  and evolution of earth, 216

  of fruit cocktail tree, 7, 11, 12, 336–38

  genes and, 212, 213

  Grew’s study of, 68

  Hales’s study of, 98, 99

  of Leyland cypress trees, 219

  “pleaching” of, 17

  pruning of, 336–38, 343

  Theophrastus’s views about, 25, 28

  breeding

  and Clark’s work, 306, 308

  for flower color, 279

  of flowering plants, 285–86

  of petunias, 273–81, 305, 306–14

  and sex among animals, 270

  See also crossbreeding; genetic engineering; inbreeding; reproduction; type of plant

  Brouncker, William, 45

  brown hawk moth, 300, 301

  Brown, Robert, 294

  brown slugs, 193, 199

  Buddha’s Hand, 112–14, 118

  buds

  and anatomy of trees, 68

  auxin and, 335

  of Buddha’s Hand tree, 113

  on fruit cocktail tree, 336–38

  grafting of, 7, 10–12, 13, 16

  meristem tissue and, 88

  miscanthus and, 235

  of petunias, 278

  and plant sex, 249, 254

  and regulations about budding, 9

  Theophrastus’s views about, 25

  Burdon, Llandis, 220

  Busby, Richard, 42–43

  calcium, 124, 125, 129–30, 212–13

  California: shipping of citrus trees from, 112

  cambium layer, 13, 14, 17, 67, 68, 92

  Camerer, Rudolf Jacob, 249–51, 252, 266, 268

  Canada: Pyramind Farms in, 227–35

  Canary grass, 332–33

  Canton, John, 177

  carbohydrates, 125, 137, 141, 192, 196, 208, 212, 221, 282, 336, 341, 344

  carbon, 125, 148, 179, 189, 204, 206, 212, 217, 236–37, 238, 344. See also carbon dioxide; photosynthesis

  carbon dioxide

  and climate-warming, 238

  Cooksonia and, 212

  cyanobacteria and, 204, 205

  evolution of earth and, 203, 204, 213, 216, 217, 223

  flowering plants and, 224

  grass and, 236, 237

  Ingen-Housz’s studies and, 187–88

  Lavoisier’s studies and, 189

  Priestley’s studies and, 179, 187–88

  roots release of, 110

  RuBisCO gene and, 236, 237

  Saussure’s studies and, 190–92

  tracheophytes and, 210

  See also photosynthesis

  Cardano, Girolamo, 90

  carnivorous plants, 329–30

  carpels

  of Amborella trichopoda, 285, 288

  of angiosperms, 285, 287–88

  Darwin’s studies and, 293, 297

  plant sex and, 249, 251–52, 256

  Cavendish, Henry, 178

  Chaney, Rufus, 121–25, 127, 128–29, 130, 131, 132

  Chemical Warfare Service (U.S. Army), 119–20

  chlorophyll, 197, 200, 201, 277, 278, 279

  chloroplasts, 196–97, 198, 199–200, 203, 208, 210, 217, 278, 344

  chyle, 91, 91n

  circulation

  in animals, 95, 97, 98

  blood, 57, 91, 95, 97, 98

  in plants, 90–103

  circumnutation, 328–29

  citrus/citrus trees

  Buddha’s Hand, 112–14

  commercial, 6

  and difficulties of having a citrus business, 15

  Florida restrictions on, 8–10, 317

  grafting of, 5–6, 7–8, 10–12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 31

  Kassinger’s collection of potted, 4–5, 246

  seedless, 6

  shipping of, 8–10, 112, 113, 317

  watering of, 15–16

  citrus cocktail tree. See fruit cocktail tree

  Clark, Bill, 156–57

  Clark, David, 305–6, 308, 309, 310–14

  clay, 109–10

  climbing plants, 328–29, 330

  club soda: invention of, 168

  co-dominance, 279, 280

  coal, 217, 223, 231, 238

  cobalt, 123, 124

  cocktail tree. See fruit cocktail tree

  Coder, Kim, 201–2

  coleus: Clark’s breeding of, 311–14

  collenchyma fibers, 66

  color

  of flowering plants, 273–81

  fragrance and, 311

  of fruit, 307

  See also type of plant

  conifers, 215, 220–26, 284, 285, 335. See also type of conifer

  Connolly, Steve, 82–83, 84, 87

  Cooksonia (tracheophyte), 210–12, 215

  Cornell University: topsoil study at, 134

  cotton plants, 27

  crabgrass, 237

  crape myrtle, 336

  crops. See annual crops

  crossbreeding, 140, 146–47, 270, 274, 278–79, 281, 293, 297, 298

  Cutler, Sean, 340

  cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), 203–6, 207–9, 208n, 342, 344

  cypress trees, 225–26, 287

  cystic fibrosis, 196

  Damariscotta, Maine: pumpkin celebration in, 149–59

  Darwin, Charles

  childhood/youth of, 290–91

  education of, 291–92

  evolution theory of, 290, 293–94

  family of, 331–32

  Galapagos Islands collection of, 292–93

  health of, 331, 332

  natural selec
tion theory of, 293, 300

  and nectaries as mystery, 288

  plant studies of, 270, 290, 293–94, 297–300, 302, 305, 326, 327–34, 335

  Sprengel’s studies and, 297

  writings of, 270, 290, 292–93, 297–98, 328–29, 330–31

  Darwin, Francis (son), 331, 332–33

  date palms, 25–26, 248

  deciduous trees, 336

  decontamination, 121–32

  Descartes, René, 94–95

  Dickson, James, 24

  Digby, Kenelm, 68

  digestion

  in humans, 90–91

  in plants, 90–103

  dioecious plants: plant sex and, 251, 254, 294

  Diogenes, 27

  diploids: gymnosperms as, 285–86

  DNA, 107, 116, 199–200, 201, 203, 205, 310, 339, 342

  dodder plants, 20

  dog’s mercury, 251, 266

  Dorothy. See fruit cocktail tree

  dracaena plants, 342–43

  dragonflies, 215

  “drip line,” 109

  drought, 340

  duff, 109, 110

  Duret, Claude, 20, 21

  “dusting” of trees, 25–26, 248

  earth: evolution of, 203–4, 212–16, 221–23

  Edenspace, 121, 132

  eggs, 257-59, 265-66, 270

  Elysia chlorotica. See sea slugs

  energy costs

  and benefits of energy independence, 238–39

  Tiesen/Pyramid Farms concerns about, 230–35, 237–38

  environment

  energy independence and, 238–39

  nitrogen’s effects on, 108n

  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 120, 121, 125

  Ephron, Nora, 164

  epigenesis theory, 259

  ethanol, 341, 342

  eukaryotes, 206–8, 207n, 208n, 209, 341–42, 344

  experiments, scientific

  in eighteenth century England, 93–94

  and founding of Royal Society, 44–45

  Kassinger’s education and, 36–39

  medieval era and, 31–32

  plant physiology and, 71

  quantitative methods for, 170

  See also specific person or experiment

  extreme gardening, 83

  Fagon, Guy-Crescent, 253–54

  Farmer, Charles, 3–4, 5–7, 9–12, 14–15, 16, 31, 317–18, 323–24

  Farmer, Susan, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15–16, 31, 317

  ferns, 25, 213–14. See also type of fern

  fertilization

  self-, 295n

  See also reproduction

  fertilizers

  for Buddha’s Hand tree, 113–14

  for fruit cocktail tree, 325

  for houseplants, 125

  for Kassinger’s conservatory, 246