The Natural History of Pollination [Paperback]

Michael Proctor (Author), Peter Yeo (Author), Andrew Lack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

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.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

This updated edition of a natural history classic, first published in 1973 as , provides an introduction to the various methods by which pollen reaches the female flower, enabling fertilization and seed production to take place. Abundant b&w illustrations. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Product Details

• Paperback: 487 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881923532
• ISBN-13: 978-0881923537
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,401,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flower Power, March 21, 2001

By 

west - See all my reviews

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, September 8, 2003

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.