On the benefits of clarifying the meaning of "plant gender".

Plant sex is complicated. Compared to more familiar animals, including ourselves, plants reproduce so differently and with such bewildering variation, that botanists spent centuries debating whether plants sexually reproduce at all. Camerarius' (1694) revolutionary concept that plants may be "male," "female," and "hermaphrodite" anticipated the modern evolutionary hypothesis that sex, as defined by meiosis and fertilization, is shared by all eukaryotes. Yet, the word "gender," which botanists often use to describe plant reproductive systems, has a confused history within the field, isolated from a broader scholarly discussion that has profoundly influenced culture. In this essay, we identify the use of "gender" as a current issue worthy of consideration, suggesting that clarifying what we mean by "gender" in our scholarship and teaching may better serve the field and promote more inclusive classrooms. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.