The importance of insects in pollinating flowers is so well known today that it is easy to forget it was discovered less than 200 years ago; before that, it was believed that bees were simply collecting nectar from flowers. This is the most thorough and accessible treatment of a fascinating subject.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
The importance of insects in pollinating flowers is so well known today that it is easy to forget it was discovered less than 200 years ago; before that, it was believed that bees were simply collecting nectar from flowers. This is the most thorough and accessible treatment of a fascinating subject.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flower Power,
By
This review is from: The Natural History of Pollination (Hardcover)
This book got me down on the ground to peer up into the cupped flowers of my hellebores to study their pollination structures and set me on stake-out around my crocuses to see who came to pollinate them. Just as The Natural History of Pollination predicted, the first honeybee of the season moved from the chalice of one crocus to the next and to the next, checking out but passing over the intervening primrose, hellebore and Oregon grape flowers. The crocus has an agenda, the bee has an agenda, and I enjoyed an early spring day in the garden more because I had more insight into their agendas. This detailed book is accessible to anyone with a basic science vocabulary and is richly illustrated with photos of plants and their pollinators, as well as helpful line drawings. I recommend this to any gardener who wants to deepen their understanding of what's going on in their garden and to any student of natural history who wants to better appreciate the complex coevolutionary dance around us. This book has made me more attentive to a world of wasps and tiny flies, and to the myriad bee species. It has helped me see flowers from the point of view of the pollinators essential to them: insects, bats and hummingbirds. Those charming dots of color on foxgloves and hellebores serve as landing guidelines for bees. The sweet perfumes of lilac and honeysuckle seduce butterflies. The carrion odor of jack-in-the-pulpit and arum lilies attracts flies. My wild ginger imitates the scent of a fungus on which a certain kind of fly lays its eggs, luring this pollinator to its flowers. And how about those white flowers that open in the evening to draw moths? I keep this book handy as new plants come into bloom, so I can appreciate them better as I understand their strategies for reproducing themselves.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource,
By merrymousies (Waterford, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Natural History of Pollination (Paperback)
Great collection of information on pollination - quite complete. The book covers a short history of the study of pollination, and an introduction to pollination. The it goes into the details of the different animals that engage in pollination with a chapter on beetles and flies, another on butterflies and moths, another on bees and their relatives, and another on bats/birds, and another on wind. The text is rather dense and has a lot of technical information and results of studies. Latin names are provided too. This is probably more of an intermediate level book. There are some color plates as well.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The association of flowers and insects, and the need for pollination if flowers are to set seed, are very much a part or our everyday awareness. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
agamospermous plants, exposed nectar, stigma clogging, floral members, striped hawkmoth, pollination relationships, nectarless flowers, mirror orchid, specialised flowers, anther tube, pollination types, pollen carryover, small tubular flowers, pollination interactions, pollinator fauna, pyramidal orchid, hummingbird hawkmoth, fly orchid, early spider orchid, stigmatic cavity, frog orchid, pollination ecology, hermaphrodite flowers, ovule abortion, pollination biology Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North America, New World, South Africa, Old World, Costa Rica, New Zealand, United States, British Isles, Hymenoptera Aculeata, Charles Darwin, Lovett Doust, America Tropical, Autumn Lady, Docters van Leeuwen, New South Wales, Papua New Guinea, Richard Bradley, West Africa New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The association of flowers and insects, and the need for pollination if flowers are to set seed, are very much a part or our everyday awareness. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
agamospermous plants, exposed nectar, stigma clogging, floral members, striped hawkmoth, pollination relationships, nectarless flowers, mirror orchid, specialised flowers, anther tube, pollination types, pollen carryover, small tubular flowers, pollination interactions, pollinator fauna, pyramidal orchid, hummingbird hawkmoth, fly orchid, early spider orchid, stigmatic cavity, frog orchid, pollination ecology, hermaphrodite flowers, ovule abortion, pollination biology Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North America, New World, South Africa, Old World, Costa Rica, New Zealand, United States, British Isles, Hymenoptera Aculeata, Charles Darwin, Lovett Doust, America Tropical, Autumn Lady, Docters van Leeuwen, New South Wales, Papua New Guinea, Richard Bradley, West Africa New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 65
books:
See all 65 books this book cites
37
books
cite this book:
See all 37 books citing this book
- Handbook of Experimental Pollination Biology by C. Eugene Jones on 8 pages
- Pollination Biology by Leslie A. Real on 6 pages
- Ecology And Evolution Of Plant Reproduction by Robert Wyatt on 5 pages
- Floral Biology (C.I.L.) by M. Percival on page 22, and Back Matter
- Population Ecology of Terrestrial Orchids by T. C. E. Wells in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 65 books this book cites
- Anatomy Of A Rose: Exploring The Secret Life Of Flowers by Sharman Apt Russell on 5 pages
- Biology of Floral Scent by Natalia Dudareva on page 183, page 212, and page 240
- BIOS Instant Notes in Plant Biology by Andrew Lack on page 104, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Bach Flower Remedies Form and Function by Julian Barnard in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America by Kim Todd in Back Matter
See all 37 books citing this book
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