Flora Unveiled
The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants
Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz
Reviews and Awards
"Flora Unveiled is not only a scholarly work of great erudition, it is a true labour of love, and deserves to be read by all (not just the plant-minded). The authors are to be congratulated in giving us such an accomplished botanical detective story." -- Nigel Chaffey, AoBBlog
"Flora Unveiled: The Discovery and Denial of Sex in Plants is a tour de force written by the eminent plant physiologist Lincoln Taiz and his wife Lee, a biologist. It is destined to be a classic." -- Professor Jules Janick, Chronica Horticulturae
"This book presents an impressive, highly readable, and beautifully illustrated panorama of the way that our understanding of sex, and ultimately sex in plants, expanded from the Stone Age to the 19th century. In the scholarly hands of Lincoln and Lee Taiz, the puzzle of plant reproduction gives us a fascinating mirror into human thought as it has grown in complexity through the ages. A masterpiece of exposition that will sturdily stand with the passage of time." -- Peter H. Raven, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden
"What are flowers for? With gusto and deep learning, Flora Unveiled explains why humanity took millennia to figure out that plants have sex -- and why that great discovery met with disbelief and disgust. A classic of scientific and cultural exposition, with surprises on every page!" -- Karen Reeds, author of Come into A New World: Linnaeus and America
"This is a magnificent book, both erudite and engaging. Never losing their guiding thread of vegetal sexuality, Lincoln and Lee Taiz successfully cross-pollinate the specimens of knowledge that grow on the fields of plant science, philosophy, religious studies, and aesthetics. Flora Unveiled is better than a revelation; it is the event of truth (Heidegger's un-concealment) blossoming in the ever-metamorphosing shape of a plant." -- Michael Marder, author of The Philosopher's Plant (2014) and, with Luce Irigaray, Through Vegetal Being (2016)
"When botanist Linnaeus wrote in 18th-century Europe about "brides" and "bridegrooms" and sexual practices in the marriage beds of the Vegetable Kingdom, he joined cultural conversations about women, men, and plants that had been going on for centuries. This fascinating and very welcome book by two plant biologists offers historical perspectives on ideas about plant reproduction, especially disputes between "sexualists" and "asexualists." Based in energetic research and richly illustrated, it melds the history of science with current gender studies about cultural factors that shape scientific ideas. Lincoln Taiz and Lee Taiz track associations dating back to Mesopotamian vegetation goddesses and forward into Romantic writings between women, flowers, fertility, sexuality, and qualities gendered "feminine," especially what the authors term "the plants-as-female gender bias."" -- Ann Shteir, York University