PLANTS AND SEX 6i 



turns green. His explanation, in this latter case, was not far 

 from the truth, for, as we now know, the greenness is due to 

 the vegetation of minute algas, which, in their dormant state, 

 may be carried from place to place by the wind. 



It is usual to regard Ecology as a very recent development 

 of botanical science, but Nehemiah Grew seems to have been 

 alive to the importance of the ecological standpoint, though he 

 did not describe it by this name. He writes " The proper 

 Places also oi Plmits, or such wherein they have... a Spontaneous 

 growth, should be considered. And that as to the Climate ; 

 whether in one Colder, Temperate, or more Hot The Region ; 

 Continent, or Island. The Seat\ as Sea, or Land, Watry, Boggy, 

 or Dry; Hills, Plains, or Vallies ; Open, in Woods, or under 

 Hedges ; against Walls, rooted in them, or on their Tops ; and 

 the like." 



Grew's most interesting contribution to science was, perhaps, 

 his publication of the fact that the flowering plants, like animals, 

 shew the phenomena of sex. He never, however, actually proved 

 this contention in an experimental way. At the time that his 

 earliest work ^ was published, he was frankly puzzled by the 

 stamens, or, as he calls them, the " Attire." He recognised 

 their use to insects, to whom flowers serve, in his own words, 

 as "their Lodging and their Dining-Room." He also fully 

 realised their value to man as increasing the beauty of the 

 blossom, but he was broad-minded enough to feel that these 

 must be secondary uses, and that " the primary and private use 

 of the attire'^ remained to be discovered. Ten years later, in 

 the second edition of his work, he tells us that it was suggested 

 to him in conversation by Sir Thomas Millington that the 

 stamens were the male organs. It seems probable that, although 

 Grew gives Millington the credit for this discovery, he had really 

 arrived at it independently, for he tells us that when Milhngton 

 made the suggestion, he "immediately reply'd that [he] was of the 

 same Opinion ; and gave him some reasons for it, and answered 

 some Objections, which might oppose them." 



Besides his belief in the male nature of the stamen, Nehemiah 

 Grew came to some rather mysterious conclusions as to their 



^ The Anatomy of Vegetables Begun, 1672. 



