Discovery of the Secret of Nature in the Structure and Fertilization of Flowers

Abstract

When I carefully examined the flower of the wood cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum) in the summer of 1787, I discovered that the lower part of its corolla was furnished with fine, soft hairs on the inside and on both margins. Convinced that the wise creator of nature had not created even a single tiny hair without definite purpose, I wondered what purpose these hairs might serve. And it soon came to my mind that if one assumes that the five nectar droplets which are secreted by the same number of glands are intended as food for certain insects, one would at the same time not think it unlikely that provision had been made for this nectar not to be spoiled by rain and that these hairs had been fitted to achieve this purpose.

Translated by Peter Haase, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Vieweq, Berlin, 1793.