The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants.

finely bound

A handsomely bound reissue of Darwin's first work on plant movement, originally published in 1875.

'Darwin was also intrigued by the more energetic aspects of plant physiology. While ill in 1863 he studied the circular movements of pea tendrils as they searched for an object to twine around. He went on to examine over 100 species of climbers, publishing the results in 1865 as a Linnean Society monograph and in 1875 under the same title, The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants. In the wild, he surmised, the climbing adaptation aided survival in dense vegetation. Assisted by his son Francis he widened the research to survey the movements of stems, leaves, and roots under the influence of gravity, moisture, and light... Although Darwin's achievement in botany was long underestimated, his chief aim was to show the power of evolutionary theory for understanding plant morphology and physiology. Many people who might have shied away from ape-ancestry were prepared to accept natural selection and evolution among plants' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

Reissue; 8vo (19 x 12 cm); a little spotting to early and late leaves and very occasionally to contents; finely bound in tan calf, spine gilt in compartments, marbled endpapers and edges, spine faded, calf lightly rubbed, excellent condition; 208pp.