Gender in humans turns out to be more complicated than we once thought, but gender in plants is pretty complicated, too. In the latest Nature Moments video, Anne T, and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nat Wheelwright explains how plants can have separate sexes, like most animals, or they can be hermaphroditic—but in two different ways.
The next time you pass a flower, check it out! If you want to make your own natural history observations, The Naturalist’s Notebook (Storey Publishing, 2017) by Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich, emeritus professor of biology at the University of Vermont, provides guidance and a systematic format, with 100% of royalties going to conservation and environmental education.
