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Continuing the feminine theme in botany, Darwin represents the insectivorous sundew
plant (Drosera) as the imperial “Queen of the marsh,” treading the “rush- fringed banks” in
robes of “glossy silk”:A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows;
Bright shines the silver halo as she turns;
And as she steps the living lustre burns.In his personifications of plants as women, Darwin presented women— whether timo-
rous, predatory, or regal— as romantic, dynamic individuals. It is easy to understand why
“The Loves of Plants” was such a hit with the ladies in the late eighteenth century. As we
shall see in the next chapter, the supposed negative impact of the sexual system on the mor-
als of young women became a rallying cry of eighteenth- century asexualists, even as Joseph
Koelreuter’s hybridization studies were establishing the validity of the sexual theory of
plants beyond any shadow of a doubt.Notes- Peakman, J. (2007), Mighty Lewd Books: The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-
Century England. Palgrave Macmillan. - The term erotica is derived from eros, the Greek word for love, whereas the term pornog-
raphy is derived from the Greek word for prostitute. The two terms first came into use during
the nineteenth century, but their meaning overlapped considerably. Peakman (2007) defines
pornography as “graphic descriptions of sexual organs and/ or action ... written with the prime
intention of sexually exciting the reader.” Peakman considers pornography to be subcategory of
erotica, which she defines as any literary treatment of sex. Others define pornography as sexual
exploitation, in contrast to erotica, which implies mutual pleasure, and opinions differ as to
where to draw the line. Neither term was in use during the eighteenth century, and the distinc-
tion between the two was not made. - Cited by Peakman, Mighty Lewd Books, p. 17.
- A third category, “geo- erotica,” which we omit from this discussion because it is not strictly
botanical, has also been termed “sexual utopias” by Peakman. In geo- erotica entire landscapes are
identified with the female body: mountains equal breasts, caves equal vaginas, which lie supine
and sexually available to its male discoverers. The most famous example is Thomas Stretzer’s A
New Description of Merryland. Containing a Topographical, Geographical and Natural History
of that Country (1740). A projection of the ancient idea of Mother Earth, geo- erotica has been
linked to British imperialism, in which colonization is imagined as a kind of rape; see Lewes, D.
(1993), Nowhere: Pornography, empire, and utopia. Utopian Studies 4:66– 73. - Cottingham, J., R. Stoothoff, and D. Murdoch, eds. and trans. (1984), The Philosophical
Writings of Descartes. Cambridge University Press, Vol. II, 16– 17. - de la Mettrie, Julien Offray (1747– 48/ 1994), Man a Machine and Man a Plant, trans. R. A.
Watson and M. Rybalka. Hackett Publishing Co., Inc. - The English philosopher and physician John Locke (1632– 1704) was a significant figure
of the Enlightenment period. Considered a liberal, he was the author of “An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding” and other important and influential works.