Plant Love: The Scandalous Truth About the Sex Life of Plants

Description

Get ready for the shocking truth about botanical sex. Who knew that bee orchids trick insects into having sex with them, avocado flowers are female one day and male the next, and some flowers are the insect equivalent of nightclubs where males and females meet and mate? Bestselling popular science author Mike Allaby reveals over 200 of nature's most unseemly creations in this sensational expose. The sexual antics of plants are far more varied than those of people and plants have preferences and techniques for which we have no equivalent. Being rooted to the spot, many rely on pollinators for assistance and forget birds and bees, we're talking kangaroos, giraffes, and vampire bats. Botanical illustrations throw light on the gallery of pimps, hookers and gigolos who may be lurking in your back garden and spice up this compendium of scurrilous botany which - be warned - may shock the worldliest of gardeners.

Mike Allaby has been writing all his life - it all began with a detective story, which he wrote aged seven in indelible pencil to give it permanence. In 1971, he published his first book about the birth of the environmental movement and he's been a full-time writer ever since. Popular science is his speciality and he is editor of several dictionaries for Oxford University Press and author of a dictionary of science for gardeners and a gardener's guide to weather for Timber Press. Michael takes pleasure in sharing the richness of the world around him, exploring the way things work and teasing out answers to his own questions. He still enjoys telling stories and although for the most part he's moved on from writing crime, enjoyed this foray into the dark underbelly of the plant world.

The sex life of plants did not top my list of "things one is curious about" but on reading Michael Allaby's neat hardback I had a change of heart. There is much switching of gender and some rather modern practices, but the light-hearted tone is supplemented by genuine erudition. -- Alexandra Henton The Field What secret raunchiness is going on in your garden without your knowledge? No, the doggers haven't come to town, it's the plants that are getting naughty in this light-hearted botanical volume, packed with delightful illustrations. -- Prudence Ivey Ham & High Delve into the world of botanical sex and discover the techniques used by plants to enter into unseemly liaisons to reproduce and survive. Gardens Illustrated