From Darwin to Rackham, via primroses and climate change
This week’s post is a bit of a ramble, but stick with me, there is a logic to this. I hope you find it interesting as I discuss the floral structure of primroses and the advancing spring
My ramble starts on Monday 12 February when Thought for the Day on Radio 4 Today was by Rev Dr Livingstone Thompson who talked about Charles Darwin, evolution and his legacy, it being Darwin’s birthday (12/02/1809) which got me thinking about his work.
Primroses
One of the very early spring flowers in bloom in the garden at the moment is the primrose (Primula vulgaris) and it was it’s floral structure that caught Darwin’s eye. He noticed that there were two types of flower. One had a long style and low anthers with small pollen, which he called pin-headed, and the other had a short style, high anthers and large pollen that he called thrum-eyed. Darwin worked out that this arrangement meant that the plants were self incompatible, so ensuring cross pollination which would maintain genetic variation and contribute to natural selection.
