Summary

Everyone knows the story of Charles Darwin's adventures on the Beagle and his publication of On the Origin of Species. However, in this essay, Sacks turns to a discussion of Darwin's lesser-known work in botany. For Darwin, this study of botany "was always infused for him with theoretical purpose, and the theoretical purpose has to do with evolution and natural selection" (7). At the time of Darwin's life and work, contemporary belief was that plants were self-fertilizing, since they "contain both male and female organs" (7). Darwin suspected otherwise and, through both observation and experimentation, "made a radical break and cracked the secret of flowers," positing that they, in conjunction with insects, "had all evolved in the service of cross-fertilization" (12). Thus, Darwin illuminated for the first time, "not just the evolution of plants but the coevolution of plants and insects" while...