Flora Unveiled

From Empedocles to Theophrastus j 221

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this men take for a sign whether the tree has blossomed well; for if the flower is burnt

up or sodden, it sheds the fruit along with itself, and so there is no hole through it.^31

Theophrastus correctly observed that cucumbers have “sterile” (male) flowers at the tips

of the shoots, which he believed inhibited the growth of the fruit:

Again some flowers are sterile, as in cucumbers those that grow at the ends of the shoot,

and that is why men pluck them off, for they hinder the growth of the cucumber.^32

Of course, the male flowers of cucumber are required for fruit production in cucumber.

However, Theophrastus is correct insofar as too many fruits on a vine can compete with

each other, thus exerting an inhibitory effect on fruit growth. If the male flowers at the tip

are removed after pollination of the existing female flowers has occurred, fewer additional

fruits will be produced, and the growth rates of the existing fruits will be proportionately

increased.

In the case of citron, Theophrastus correlated the presence of the pistil with fruit

production:

And they say that in the citron those flowers which have a kind of distaff [i.e., the

pistil] growing in the middle are fruitful, but those that have it not are sterile.^33

The use of the term “distaff ”— a staff used to hold bunches of flax or wool fibers during

the spinning process— to describe the shape of a pistil is significant. The term has strong

gender connotations, being strongly associated with textiles and with women. In fact, the

archaic usage of “distaff ” was synonymous with women and women’s work. The phrase “dis-

taff side” refers to the female branch of a family. By his choice of “distaff ” as a metaphor to

describe the shape of the citron pistil, Theophrastus consciously or unconsciously gendered

the pistil as female, no doubt because of its role in producing seed. No other gender- specific

term is used to describe any other floral structure.

Theophrastus was aware that in date palms the trees came in two types: sterile (male) and

fruitful (female). He noted that the males produced flowers but no fruits, while the females

seemed to produce fruits without flowers:

Some say that even of plants of the same kind some specimens flower while others do

not; for instance that the “ ‘male”‘ date- palm flowers but the “ ‘female”‘ does not, but

exhibits its fruit without any antecedent flower.^34

Recall from Chapter  5 that male date palm flowers have showy white petals, while the

females do not, which accounts for Theophrastus’s erroneous conclusion that the female

tree produces fruit without any “flowers.” The “fruit” in this case is actually the female

flower, which comprises the pistil and its scale- like petals.

In several passages, Theophrastus reported that in Greece it was customary to refer to

fruit- bearing trees as “females” and trees without fruit as “males.”^35 But he also cites several

exceptions to this rule, resulting in a confusing picture: