How Flowers Created Our World
by David George Haskell, Torva (UK); Viking (USA)

Let me be upfront: I’m not an expert in gardening. In fact, I’ve managed to kill remarkably hardy plants—including a cactus! Although I appreciate the beauty of flowers, this review reflects the perspective of a novice gardener who struggles to cultivate blooms.

Despite my lack of gardening skills, David George Haskell clearly possesses deep knowledge of flowering plants. His latest book, How Flowers Created Our World, is rich with insights drawn from his own garden and his involvement in habitat restoration projects. Haskell’s deep affection for flowers shines through every page.

Haskell is a biologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and a seasoned author with several books on botany and ecology. His previous work, Wild and Broken Sounds, explored animal communications and the threats they face from human activities such as noise pollution and deforestation.

His core thesis asserts that society’s perception of flowering plants is fundamentally flawed. Haskell argues that in many Western cultures, flowers are often dismissed as fragile ornaments—pretty but devoid of strength or significance.

This misunderstanding contributes to flowers being viewed as “feminine,” leading many men to shy away from floral garnishes on beverages—instead opting for traditional ales, ironically brewed from flowering plants.

However, Haskell emphasizes, “Flowers have the power to change the world.” The emergence and diversification of flowering plants during the late dinosaur period were pivotal in transforming ecosystems and spurring the evolution of various life forms. Rainforests, bees, savannahs, meadows, and even humans are intricately linked to the survival of flowering plants.

To illustrate his points, Haskell dedicates eight of the book’s nine chapters to exploring different facets of flower ecology, each centered around a specific flower species.

He begins with the Magnolia, a flower that has remained largely unchanged for 100 million years, serving as a window into the history of the earliest flowering plants. Angiosperms, as flowering plants are known, appeared during the age of the dinosaurs and quickly established dominance—addressing the long-standing debates regarding their exact timeline.

As flowering plants ascended, they relegated many ancient plant groups to the periphery of ecosystems. Most of what we consider “trees” are flowering plants, as are all grasses. Haskell writes, “Earth is a planet of flowers.”

Transitioning from magnolia to goat’s beard, he showcases how rapidly and innovatively flowering plants evolve. He argues that the repeated duplication of genomic fragments is fundamental, creating a vast genetic reservoir and allowing angiosperms to develop numerous advantageous traits.

Orchids exemplify the intricate relationships flowering plants form with insects, birds, and fungi, while seagrasses illustrate how flowering plants create entire ecosystems, offering habitats for various wildlife and reshaping their environments.

In the latter half of the book, Haskell focuses on the profound connection between humans and flowering plants. Using roses as a case study, he highlights the diverse scents flowers produce and their significance in human relationships, as well as their role in the perfume industry. Linnaeus’s modern classification system was partially based on his studies of tea plants. Essentially, all major grains like wheat and corn are flowering plants. Without these vital species, sustaining the global population would be impossible.

Though Haskell passionately argues for the significance of flowering plants, this fervor can sometimes lead to overgeneralizations. He portrays a pre-angiosperm world as dull and largely devoid of color and scent, not giving credit to the ancestral visual signals that date back to early complex animals during the Cambrian period. The exact colors of primitive marine life and flora remain a mystery.

Likewise, chemical communication, an ancient evolutionary trait, is widespread and not fully understood in the vast oceans.

Despite minor critiques, Haskell rightly emphasizes the critical role of flowering plants in our ecosystems and the necessity of preserving their biodiversity. In the final chapter, he delves into the future of flowers, fluidly discussing emerging concepts such as wildflower gardens and rewilding efforts.

My only reservation regarding this book is its structure. Haskell presents the idea that “flowers are cool” in a rather simplistic manner, stringing together loosely connected essays rather than crafting a cohesive narrative. Readers shouldn’t expect a gripping story; instead, they are invited to savor Haskell’s poetic prose.

I can’t help but think Haskell may have been inspired by Marcel Proust. In In Search of Lost Time, the narrator recalls memories through the taste of a madeleine. Haskell encourages readers to appreciate the tens of millions of years of evolution evident in magnolia petals and stamens.

While Haskell’s narrative style differs from my preferred directness, his works are well-researched, insightful, and vividly articulate. They possess great depth and merit.

Michael Marshall is a science writer based in Devon, UK, and the author of Genesis Quest.

3 Other Great Books About Non-Animals

The Plant Said by Monica Gagliano

Discover how plants can “hear” caterpillars munching and even exhibit learning and memory. Gagliano emphasizes that these capabilities often remain unnoticed due to their slower pace of operation compared to humans.

Find the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard

Explore the concept of a “wood wide web”—a network of roots and fungi enabling trees to communicate with one another. Simard’s research has been pivotal to our understanding of this intricate natural phenomenon.

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

Fungi, a unique and often misunderstood group of organisms, are central to our lives. Sheldrake dives into their roles in food production and the profound experiences they can provide.