Darwin summarized his survey of the diverse “contrivances” orchids evolved to assure cross-fertilization by insects by stating that “Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors perpetual self-fertilisation.” He demonstrated that highly specialized adaptations in orchid flowers assure that any bee, moth, or other pollinator had to “fit” the mechanism presented to it. On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing (1862)ĭarwin pioneered work on orchid biology in his two books (18) on the fertilization of orchids by insects. Darwin’s pioneering books on plant biology provided key evidence for his theory that natural selection was the driving force of evolution.
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