Insectivorous Plants.

First Edition of Charles Darwin's Insectivorous Plants

Insectivorous Plants.

DARWIN, Charles.

Item Number: 82348

London: John Murray, 1875.

First edition of this classic work by Darwin. Octavo, original green cloth, gilt titles to the spine, illustrations by Darwin and his sons, George and Francis Darwin. In near fine condition. A very sharp example.

Insectivorous Plants is a classic Charles Darwin essay on botany in which Darwin states, "during the summer of 1860, I was surprised by finding how large a number of insects were caught by the leaves of the common sun-dew (Drosera rotundifolia) on a heath in Sussex. I had heard that insects were thus caught, but knew nothing further on the subject." The book chronicles Darwin's experiments with various carnivorous plants, in which he carefully studied their feeding mechanisms.[2] 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 that this was an example of natural selection pressure resulting in various methods for food capture.

We're sorry, this item has sold.

Ask a Question SHIPPING & GUARANTEE