INTRODUCTION 3 



scientific thought, failed to interpret this phenomenon. Theo- 

 phrastus, for example, concludes that as other plants do not as 

 a rule exhibit the same phenomenon, the date tree is not an 

 example of real sexuality (Johnson, 1915). 



Little was actually known of plant sexual processes until 

 comparatively recent times. The English physician Grew 

 (1676) further developed the suggestion of Sir Thomas Millington 

 that the stamens served as the male organs, by a hypothesis 

 regarding the process of fertilization. The only means of 

 demonstrating this phenomenon was by the experimental method. 



FIG. 1. The date palm among the Assyrians. 



"Design from the palace of Sargon at Khorsabad (eighth century B.C.) showing that 

 the male and female flowers of the date palm were clearly distinguished at that time. The 

 worshiper in the middle is carrying a sprig of male or staminate flowers while the one at 

 the right bears female or pistillate blossoms. The drawings should be compared with the 

 photographs of actual flowers. The winged deity at the left, who is usually identified as 

 the Palm God, holds in his hand a cone which is thought to typify the spathe of the male 

 palm, and thus the principle of fertility in general." (After Johnson, 1915.) 



The First Demonstration of Sex in Plants. Camerarius 

 first made the experimental test by using isolated female 

 plants of the mulberry, by emasculating the castor bean and by 

 removing the stigmas from Indian corn. The results of these 

 experiments were reported in a letter to Professor Valentin, of 

 Giessen, written in 1694. 



The following statement, made by Camerarius and found in 

 Ostwald's Klassiker, page 25, has been frequently quoted (John- 

 son 1915.) 



