Flora Unveiled

Wars of the Roses j 429

429 429

his 250th birthday. Willdenowia 31:141– 152, the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum,

Berlin- Dahlem; and Vogel, S.  (1996), Christian Konrad Sprengel’s theory of the flower:  The

Cradle of Floral Ecology, in D. G. Lloyd and S. C. H. Barrett, eds. (1996), Floral Biology: Studies

on Floral Evolution in Animal- Pollinated Plants. Chapman and Hall, pp. 44– 62.

35. The second pastor for a protestant city church.


36. Zepernick and Meretz, Christian Konrad Sprengel’s life.
    37. Ibid.


37. Quoted by Zepernick and Meretz.


38. Das entdeckte Geheimnis der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen ( B e r l i n  1 7 9 3).


39. This prediction has particular relevance for today, in light of the continuing concern over
    bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) and other environmental threats to insect pollinators.


40. Vogel, Christian Konrad Sprengel’s theory of the flower.


41. Sprengel, C. K. (1793), Discovery of the Secret of Nature in the Structure and Fertilization of
    Flowers, trans. Peter Haase, in D. G. Lloyd and S. C. H. Barrett, eds. (1996), Floral Biology: Studies
    on Floral Evolution in Animal- Pollinated Plants. Chapman and Hall.
    43. Ibid.
    44. Ibid.
    45. Ibid.


42. For example, Sprengel found that most flowers are insect- pollinated and contain features
    that attract insects, such as nectaries, petal pigmentation, and fragrance. He showed that wind-
    pollinated flowers are generally nectarless and inconspicuous and produce dry, powdery pollen,
    in contrast to insect- pollinated flowers, whose pollen tends to stick together in clumps. He also
    noted that insect pollinators may be either generalists or specialists. Vogel, S. (1996), Christian
    Konrad Sprengel’s theory of the flower.


43. Another floral feature that favors outcrossing is heterostyly, in which a species population
    includes individuals with two or three types of flowers that differ in the lengths of their stamens
    and pistils. However, it was Darwin, not Sprengel, who in 1862 published the first study of het-
    erostyly in Primula (primroses).


44. Vogel, Christian Konrad Sprengel’s theory of the flower.


45. Darwin, C. R. (1876), The Effects of Cross- and Self- Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom.
    John Murray.


46. Insect larceny, or “nectar robbing,” refers to the harvesting of nectar from the flower with-
    out performing pollination services, typically by drilling a hole at the base of the corolla, thus
    avoiding contact with the anthers. Examples include carpenter bees, bumblebees, wasps, and
    ants, as well as some birds and mammals.


47. Wichler (1936), cited by Lloyd and Barrett, Floral Biology.