Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Historical Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Pollination Biology

Abstract

This chapter traces the history of pollination. The basic principle of sex differentiation in plants may have been known as early as 1500 B.C. Hebrews learned the value and art of date pollination from Egyptian and Babylonian experts. An Assyrian architectural relief of that period shows two divine creatures, each presumably holding a male date inflorescence over a female inflorescence. The Arabic writer, Kazwini, who died about 682 A.D., as saying that the date is the only tree that is artificially fertilized. Growers of dates today use this method to assure a set of dates in their groves. In 1694, Rudolph Jacob Camerarius stated that there are two different parts of the flower, the stamens and the pistil, and that they must work together to produce ripe seed. Arthur Dobbs (1750) was the first to observe how bees pollinated flowers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ames O (1946) The evaluation of the orchid flower. Am Orchid Soc Bull 14:355–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Amici GB (1824) Observations microscopiques sur diverse espèces de plantes. Ann Sci Nat Bot 2(41–70):211–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Amici GB (1830) Note sur le mode d’action du pollen sur le stigmate. Extrait d’une lettre d’Amici à Mirbel. Ann Sci Nat Bot 21:239–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Amici GB (1847) Sur la fécondation des Orchidées. Ann Sci Nat Bot 7(8):193–205

    Google Scholar 

  • Benton F (1896) The honey bee, a manual of instruction in apiculture. US Dept Agr Div Ent Bul 1 N S Rev Ea, 118pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Beuhne R (1909) Bees and fruit fertilization. Victoria Dept Agr J 7(11):693–696

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohart GE (1912) Management of wild bees for the pollination of crops. Ann Rev Ent 17:287–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohart GE (1960) Insect pollination of forage crops. Adv Agron 12:72–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown R (1833) Discovery of cells and the development of cell theory. Trans Linn Soc 16:685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bohart BE, Todd FE (1961) Pollination of seed crops by insectsYearbook of Agriculture, vol. 245. Department of Agriculture, United States

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler CG, Simpson J (1953) Bees as pollinators of fruit and seed crops. Report Rothamsted Experimental Station England, UK, pp 167–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Clements EE, Long EL (1923) Experimental pollination: an outline of the ecology of flowers and insects, 336th edn. Carnegie institute of Washington publication, Washington, DC, 274 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crane, JE. (1876). The relation of bees to fruit culture. In 3rd Biennial report of the Vermont State Board of Agriculture, pp 253–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Cresti M, Linskens HF (1999) The discovery of sexual reproduction in higher plants. Acta Biol Crac Ser Bot 41:19–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1862) Fertilization of orchids by insects. Murray, London, p 15

    Google Scholar 

  • Darwin C (1869) Notes on the fertilization of orchids. Annals and magazine of natural history september 1869:1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delpino F (1868–1875) Ulteriori osservazioni e considerazioni sulla dicogamia nel regno vegetale. Atti Soc Ital Sci Nat 11,12:179–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowden AO (1964) The secret life of flowers. 45 pp. The odyssey press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eckert JR (1959) The Kangaroo Island Ligurian bees. Gleanings in Bee Culture 86:660–663, 722–725

    Google Scholar 

  • Faegri K, van der Pijl L (1966) The principles of pollination biology. Pergamon Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrar CL (1931) The evaluation of bees for pollination. Jour Econ Ent 24:622–627

    Google Scholar 

  • Free JB (1960) The pollination of fruit trees. Bee World 41(141–151):169–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Free JB (1970) Insect pollination of crops. Academic, London, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman WE (2001) Developmental and evolutionary hypotheses for the origin of double fertilization and endosperm. C R Acad Sci III 324:559–567

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gale A (1897) The influence of bees on crops. Agr Gaz NS Wales 8:264–276, 337–339, 423–425, 490–493, 581–584, 620–623, 734–736, 831–833, 908–910

    Google Scholar 

  • Giordani G (1952) Bees and flower pollination . National Apicultural Institute of Bologna. [in Italian.] Aa-120/54, 59 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Goor A (1967) The history of the date through the ages in the holy land. Econ Bot 21:320–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant V (1949a) Arthur dobbs (1750) and the discovery of the pollination of flowers by insects. Bull Torr Bot Club 76(3):217–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant V (1949b) Pollination systems as isolating mechanisms in angiosperms. Evolution 3:82–97

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gubin AF, Khalifman IA (1958) Flowers and bees. Agrobiologiya, Moscow 1–139 USSR, Moscow: Moskovskii rabochii. [in Russian.] Aa-64/59, 194 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Hambleton JI (1944) The role of bees in the production of fruit and seed. Jour Econ Ent 37:522–525

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbert W (1837) Amaryllidaceae with a treatise on crossbred vegetables. In: Muller H (ed) (1883) The fertilization of flowers Macmillan Co., Inc., London, p 371. [Translated and edited by d’arcy thompson.]

    Google Scholar 

  • Hildebrand F (1867) Diegeschlechter-vertheilungbei den pflanzen. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig, 92pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooper T (ed) (1921) Guide to Bees and Honey: Amazon.Co.UK: Ted Hooper: Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson WZ (1886) The relation of bees to horticulture, benefits and injuries. Mich Hort Soc Proc 16:13–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutson R (1926) The relation of honey bees to fruit pollination in New Jersey. NJ Agr Exp Sta Bull 434:1–32

    Google Scholar 

  • John Ray (1627–1705) was an English naturalist. His classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum, was an important step towards modern taxonomy

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb Koelreuter J (1733–1806) A German who demonstrated the existence of sexes in plants and produced a plant hybrid by crossing two species of tobacco

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasiev TI (1964) Problems of nectar production of cotton and the role of honey bees in increasing its yield. 215 pp. Baku, Azerbaidzhan Goz. lzd. [In Russian.]

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenoyer LA (1916). Pollination of economic plants. In Iowa State Apiarist Report 1915:24–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerner A (1878) Flowers and their unbidden guests.(trans: Ogle W), C. Kegan Paul & Co, London, 164 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight TA (1799) An account of some experiments on the fecundation of vegetables. Roy Soc London Phil Trans pt I 89:195–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knoll F (1926) Abh Zool-Bot Ges Wien 12:381–481

    Google Scholar 

  • Knuth P (1895–1905) Handbuch der blutenbiologie iiii. Engelmann, Leipzig, 2973 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamurthi S, Madhava Rao VN (1963) Certain problems in pollination of fruit crops. So Indian hort 11(1, 2):1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamarck [J.P.A.M] (1778) Flore françoise, ou, Description succincte de toutes les plantes qui croissent naturellement en France :disposée selon une nouvelle méthode d’analyse, & à laquelle on a joint la citation de leurs vertus les moins équivoques en médecine, & de leur utilité dans les arts. Tome premier. pp. 1-4, i-cxix, [1]-132, i-xxix, pls I-XVIII. Paris: De l’Imprimerie Royale

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz FE (1918) Fieldbook of insects. G.P. Putnam’s sons, New York and London, 509 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Maheshwari P (1950) An introduction to the embryology of angiosperms. McGraw-Hill, New York, 453 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Muller H (1883) The fertilisation of flowers (trans: D’Arcy W. Thompson). Macmillan, London, 669 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nehemiah Grew, who, with the Italian botanist Marcello Malpighi, may be considered as co-founder of the science of Plant Anatomy. Grew was drawn to the study of plant structure at the age of twenty-three, and seven years later he produced his earliest work on the subject, The Anatomy of Vegetables Begun, which was published by the Royal Society in 1672. In 1682 he published his magnum opus, The Anatomy of Plants, prefaced by an Epistle Dedicatory

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor M, Yeo P, Lack A (1996) The natural history of pollination. Harper Collins Publishers, London, 479 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudolf Jakob Camerarius (1665–1721), German botanist and physician (latinization of “Camerer”) (1665–1721) German physician and botanist. Professor at Tubingen (from 1688); demonstrated sexuality in plants (reported 1694)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmucker T (1925) Beiträge zur biologie und physiologie von Arum maculatum. Flora 118(119):460–475

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinnott EW (1946) Botany – principles and problems, 4th edn. Mcgraw-hill book co., inc, New York and London, 726pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Sprengel CK (1793) The secret of Nature in the form and fertilization of flowers discovered. 4 sects. [in German]

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephen WP (1959) Maintaining alkali bee beds for alfalfa seed production. Oreg Agr Expt Sta Bul 568, 23pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Stricker MH (1971) Pollination pioneer: Richard d. Barclay 1888–1938. Gleanings bee cult 99:358–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Theophrastus (300 BC) Enquiry into plants and minor works on odors and weather signs. Book 2, p 8, paragraph 3–4, p 155 (trans: sir arthur hort). Harvard University Press, Boston, 475 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Todd FE, McGregor SE (1960) The use of honey bees in the production of crops. Ann Rev Ent 5:265–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utah Agricultural Experiment Station (1950) Growing alfalfa for seed in utah. Utah Agr Expt Sta Cir 125, 72 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Vansell G, Griggs WH (1952) Honey bees as agents of distribution. US.D.A. Yearbook.: 88–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Waite MB (1895) The pollination of pear flowers. US Dept Agr Div Veg Path Bul 5, 86 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson W (1751) Some observations upon the sex of flowers. Roy Soc London Phil Trans 47: 169–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellington Ra, Stout AB, Einset O, and others (1929) Pollination of fruit trees. N.Y. (Geneva) Agr Expt Sta Bul 577, 54 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Werkenthin FC (1922) The founders of the art of plant breeding. Iowa Acad Sci 29:291–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilhelm Friedrich Benedikt Hofmeister (18 May 1824 – 12 January 1877) was a German biologist and botanist. He “stands as one of the true giants in the history of biology and belongs in the same pantheon as Darwin and Mendel.” He discovered the regular alternation of sexual and asexual generation in plants (1862), which is the basis for the explanation of the life cycle in all known plants

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Entomology Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Main Campus Chatha, Jammu, 180009, India

    Dharam P. Abrol

Authors
  1. Dharam P. Abrol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dharam P. Abrol .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Abrol, D.P. (2012). Historical Perspective. In: Pollination Biology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1942-2_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation