The Rose’s Kiss by Peter Bernhardt, University of Chicago Press, $16/£10.50, ISBN 0226044408
AMONG the open alpine meadows of north-western America grows a beautiful wild flower, a species of Jacob’s ladder. High in the mountains, most of its blooms have a honey-like scent, designed to attract pollinating bumblebees. Down on the shady lower slopes, however, the plants rely on flies to carry pollen from flower to flower, and there they smell like skunks.
This entertaining new book by Peter Bernhardt, professor of biology at St Louis University in Missouri, is a mine of information on the natural history of…
