Darwin as a man among his plants

Press, 29 October 1977, Page 19

Darwin as a man among his plants

Darwin and His Flowers: The key to natural selection. By Mea Allan. Faber and Faber. 318 pp„ illustrations and bibliography. $16.60. (Reviewed by W. R. Philipson) Darwin and Newton must share the honour of being the two most universally-known scientists. The life of both deeply affected man’s awareness of hi„ place in nature. One put earth, man’s homeland, into its place in the universe, the other convinced his fellow-men of their unity with other inhabitants of earth. Darwin revealed that humanity has a past of gradual development and can hope for a future of further advancement. So much has been written about Charles Darwin, much of it only a few vears ago on the occasion of the centenary of the “Origin of the Species’’ that the need for another book might be doubted. But Mea Allan has succeeded in giving us a most readable and well-illustrated account of two

themes that are largely new. First, she wrote of Darwin from the human angle. The earlier chapters are mainly biographical, skilfully weaving together threads of domesticity, ailing health, and the choice of a career. After we have read them, Darwin is no longer merely an illustrious name but has become a very likable man. He is so modest, so scrupulously fair and honest, such a good friend and father, and accepts the great handicap of illhealth so uncomplainingly, that we wonder if the tireless experimenter and writer can be the same person. His success as a scientist was due to his attention to detail combined with an ability to apply this detail to broad ideas. Few people with this breadth of mind care to complete tasks which take years of careful observation, yet this Darwin did repeatedly. This brings us to the second of Mea Allan’s achievements. She continually stresses Darwin’s interest in plants.

Darwin’s ideas of evolution are usually associated with animals, especially with monkeys and other primates, but Darwin soon realised that the plasticity of plants and their easy culture, made them especially valuable for the testing of his evolutionary ideas. The later chapters, though still biographical, are mainly taken up with Darwin’s plant experiments and his botanical writings. Darwin published important works on geology and zoology, but his bontanical writings must have exceeded these taken together. It is significant that what Darwin found to interest him in plants was their ability to do things rather in the manner of animals. He always regards them as purposeful and sentient beings, so that his description of a tendril searching for a hold and grasping it, reads like the portrayal of an octopus. The same approach permeates his volume on plants that entrap and digest insects as it does a long succession of books on many facets of plant life. One of the most fascinating described for the first time the intricate mechanisms by which orchid flowers ensure pollination.

Another reports his own prolific tests to show the importance of crosspollination in securing maximum output of vigorous seedlings. Yet others recount his new discoveries on the operation of flowers which, like the primrose. exist in two or more forms, and in his last book he summarises his findings on the power of movement in plants. These books, several of which were very successful with the general reader, relied very largely on his own observations and experiments. Darwin grew plants well and constantly wrote for practical gardeners in horticultural journals. In the creation of garden varieties by human selection he saw an epitome of his evolutionary theories. The variation that he observed in natural populations, particularly his experiences as a young man among the Galapagos Islands, directed his thoughts along the road to evolution having occurred as a result of natural selection and isolation. For the rest of his life he collected information from many sources in support of these ideas. But it was increasingly from the plant kingdom that he found support for his theories. In her title Allan aptly epitomises her dual interest in Darwin the man and in the plants he so greatly admired. [Professor Philipson retired last year after 22 years as head of the botany department at the University of Canterbury. He is internationally known for his botanical research in South-Eeast Asia and the Pacific.J