Articles

Taking Living Forms Seriously: A Goethean Approach to Floral Morphology and Anatomy of Two Chilean Loasa

João Felipe Ginefra Toni, Betsabé Abarca Rojas, Gabriela Matamala Gajardo
Elemente der Naturwissenschaft 114, 2021, P. 52-65 | DOI: 10.18756/edn.114.52
Article | Language: English | €6.00
Export Article Citation as

Abstract:

In October 2018, the first Intensive Course on Floral Morphology of the FLO-RE-S network was held at the Rìo Clarillo National Reserve in Chile (Bull-Hereñu et al. 2018). All students had to implement a short research project related to the flora present in the reserve. One of these research projects, carried out by Betsabé Abarca Rojas and Gabriela Matamala Gajardo, under the supervision of João Felipe Ginefra Toni, is reported here as an example of a Goethean approach to contemporary studies in floral morphology. By taking living formations seriously in the study of Loasa flowers, these students could learn how art and science can be united in a research project, and in what sense our thinking can become a mode of seeing and our seeing, a way of thinking (intuitive power of judgment).

References
  • Brown, D.K., Kaul, R.B. (1981): Floral structure and mechanism in Loasaceae. Amer. J. Bot. 68(3), pp. 361–372.
  • Ginefra Toni, J.F. (2018): On the origins and renaissance of Goethe’s morphology. Elemente d. N. 108, pp. 5–21.
  • Goethe, J.W. (1790): Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären. Gotha.
  • Henning, T. et al. (2018): A case of behavioural diversification in male floral function – the evolution of thigmonastic pollen presentation. Sci. Reports 8, 14018.
  • Holdrege, C. (2013): Thinking like a plant. A living science for life. Great Barrington.
  • Hufford, L. (1990): Androecial development and the problem of monophyly of Loasaceae. Canadian J. Bot. 68, pp. 402–419.
  • Hufford, L. (2003): Homology and developmental transformation: Models for the origins of the staminodes of Loasaceae subfamily Loasoideae. Internat. J. Plant Sci. 164(5 Suppl), pp. 409–439.
  • Mittelbach, M., Kolbaia, S., Weigend, M., Henning T. (2019): Flowers anticipate revisits of pollinators by learning from previously experienced visitation intervals. Plant Signaling & Behavior.
  • Muñoz-Schick, M., De Trenquayle, A. (2011): Nueva especie de Loasa (Loasaceae) de Chile. Gayana Bot. 68(2), pp. 341–344.
  • Payer, J.-B. (1857): Traité d’organogénie comparée de la fleur. Paris.
  • Ronse de Craene, L.P. (2010): Floral diagrams. An aid to understanding flower morphology and evolution. Cambridge.
  • Trenqualye, A. (2016): Una clave para determinar las especies chilenas de Loasa (Loasaceae). Chloris Chilensis, A o 19. N  1.
  • Urban, L., Gilg, E. (1900): Monographia Loasacearum. Nova Acta Acad Caes Leop-Carol Germ. Nat. Curr. 76:1370.
  • Weigend, M.,Gottschling, M., Hoot, S., Ackermann, M. (2004): A preliminary phylogeny of Loasaceae subfam. Loasoideae (Angiospermae: Cornales) based on trnL (UAA) sequence data, with consequences for systematics and historical biogeography. Organisms Divers Evol. 4, pp. 73–90.