HOW FLOWERS MADE OUR WORLD

Flowers through time.

“We live on a floral planet,” declares award-winning biologist Haskell in a fascinating examination of the enormous impact that flowering plants have had on all life. Flowers appeared about 200 million years ago, following complex animals and other land plants, such as ferns and conifers. Through rapid and continuing doubling of their genome, followed by selective pruning, their advent was dramatic: “By one hundred million years ago,” Haskell writes, “they were the foundation of most habitats on land” proliferating into almost all of the main branches of flowering plants that exist today. Haskell focuses on eight plants in particular: magnolias, which were contemporaneous with dinosaurs; goatsbeard, which responded to environmental stresses by chromosomal doubling; orchids, whose evolutionary survival—an astounding 28,000 species—exemplifies the interweaving of “sky and soil, flying pollinators with root-bound microbes and fungi”; grasses, which produce small flowers along stalks and “evolved hidden biochemical superpowers”; seagrasses, distantly related to land grasses, which provide habitats for aquatic animal life; roses, whose volatile oils—and alluring fragrance— is a result of “genetic exuberance”; teas, once a mainstay of international trade; and pansies, both field pansies and the hundreds of new varieties bred by horticulturists. Haskell speculates on the future evolution of flowers as they respond to environmental challenges wrought by humans, such as climate change and impoverished soil. Flowers are “genetically malleable and resilient,” able to change their strategies of reproduction—from showy blooms to attract pollinators to self-fertilization, for example. Besides bringing beauty and joy into the world, flowers, Haskell asserts, can teach humans an important lesson: “Thriving worlds grow from cooperation, mediated by beauty, with some illusion thrown in.” A final chapter suggests playful ways to connect with flowers.

An edifying celebration.