Camerarius - Rudolph Jakob Camerarius

A German pharmacologist and pioneering researcher into the reproduction of higher plants. After completing his medical studies, he travelled to Holland, France and other places to continue his research, and in 1688 became professor of pharmacy and director of the botanical garden at the University of Tübingen in his hometown. He became interested in the reproduction of higher plants and conducted numerous experiments. As a result, he discovered that, for example, female plants alone in dioecious mulberry plants cannot produce seeds, and that flowers from monoecious castor beans cannot produce seeds if the anthers are cut off before they mature. This led him to conclude that flowers are the reproductive organs of plants, with the anthers being the male reproductive organs and the ovary being the female reproductive organ, and that plants, like animals, have sex. This discovery paved the way for the improvement of plant varieties through hybridization.

[Mafune Kazuo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの薬学者、高等植物の生殖についての先駆的研究者。医学を修めたのち、オランダ、フランスなどを旅行して研究を続け、1688年、生地のチュービンゲン大学の薬学教授兼植物園長となる。高等植物の生殖に関心をもち、数多くの実験を繰り返した。その結果、たとえば、雌雄異株のクワでは雌株だけでは種子ができないこと、また雌雄同株のトウゴマなどの花でも成熟前の葯(やく)を切り取ると種子ができないことなどから、花は植物の生殖器官であり、葯が雄性生殖器官、子房が雌性生殖器官であり、したがって植物にも動物同様に性があるとした。この発見は交雑による植物の品種改良を可能にする道を開いた。

［真船和夫］

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