Insectivorous Plants (book)
Encyclopedia
Insectivorous Plants is a book by British naturalist
and evolutionary theory
pioneer Charles Darwin
, first published on 2 July 1875 in London
.
Part of a series of works by Darwin related to his theory of natural selection
, the book is a study of carnivorous plants
with specific attention paid to the adaptations that allow them to live in difficult conditions. It includes illustrations by Darwin himself, along with drawings by his sons George
and Francis Darwin
.
The book chronicles Darwin's experiments with various carnivorous plants, in which he carefully studied their feeding mechanisms. Darwin tried several methods to stimulate the plants into activating their trap mechanisms, including feeding them meat and glass, blowing on them and prodding them with hair. He found that only the movement of an animal would cause the plants to react, and concluded that this was an evolutionary adaptation to conserve energy for prey and to ignore stimuli that were not likely to be nutritious. He also discovered that while some plants have distinct trap-like structures, others produce sticky fluids to ensnare their prey, and concluded this was an example of natural selection pressure resulting in various methods for food capture.
The first edition
had a reported printing of 3,000 copies. It was translated into several languages during Darwin's lifetime, including German
. A second English language edition was published in 1889 after Darwin's death, edited with additions and footnotes by Francis Darwin.
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
and evolutionary theory
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
pioneer Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, first published on 2 July 1875 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Part of a series of works by Darwin related to his theory of natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
, the book is a study of carnivorous plants
Carnivorous plant
Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic...
with specific attention paid to the adaptations that allow them to live in difficult conditions. It includes illustrations by Darwin himself, along with drawings by his sons George
George Darwin
Sir George Howard Darwin, FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician.-Biography:Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin...
and Francis Darwin
Francis Darwin
Sir Francis "Frank" Darwin, FRS , a son of the British naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin, followed his father into botany.-Biography:Francis Darwin was born in Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848...
.
The book chronicles Darwin's experiments with various carnivorous plants, in which he carefully studied their feeding mechanisms. Darwin tried several methods to stimulate the plants into activating their trap mechanisms, including feeding them meat and glass, blowing on them and prodding them with hair. He found that only the movement of an animal would cause the plants to react, and concluded that this was an evolutionary adaptation to conserve energy for prey and to ignore stimuli that were not likely to be nutritious. He also discovered that while some plants have distinct trap-like structures, others produce sticky fluids to ensnare their prey, and concluded this was an example of natural selection pressure resulting in various methods for food capture.
The first edition
First edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
had a reported printing of 3,000 copies. It was translated into several languages during Darwin's lifetime, including German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. A second English language edition was published in 1889 after Darwin's death, edited with additions and footnotes by Francis Darwin.