Do you know how many species of flowering plants there are? There are a quarter of a million -- at least those are the ones we know about -- a quarter of a million species of flowering plants. And flowers are a real bugger. They're really difficult for plants to produce. They take an enormous amount of energy and a lot of resources. Why would they go to that bother? And the answer of course, like so many things in the world, is sex. I know what's on your mind when you're looking at these pictures. And the reason that sexual reproduction is so important -- there are lots of other things that plants can do to reproduce. You can take cuttings; they can sort of have sex with themselves; they can pollinate themselves. But they really need to spread their genes to mix with other genes so that they can adapt to environmental niches. Evolution works that way.
你們知道嗎~~ 這世上到底有多少種類的開花植樹呢? 光是我們已知的,就有大約25萬種!! 25萬種的開花植物.... 而花朵真的是個大麻煩, 對植物來說,花朵是非常難長出來的, 那要耗費極大量的能量和許多的的資源 這麼麻煩為什麼還是要做呢? 這答案正是像世界上許多其它的事情都一樣的, 為了"性" 嘿嘿~ 我知道當你們在看這些圖片的時候,心裡在想些什麼 :P 而有性生殖之所以這麼重要..... 植物有許多其它(除了有性生殖之外)的方法可以繁殖 你可以用切枝繁殖 植物可以和它們自己性愛... 自己對自己傳播花粉 但其實它們真正需要的,是傳播它們的基因。 並和其它的基因混合, 藉此得到生態上的利基, 演化,就是這麼進行的。
Now the way that plants transmit that information is through pollen. Some of you may have seen some of these pictures before. As I say, every home should have a scanning electron microscope to be able to see these. And there is as many different kinds of pollen as there are flowering plants. And that's actually rather useful for forensics and so on. Most pollen that causes hay fever for us is from plants that use the wind to disseminate the pollen, and that's a very inefficient process, which is why it gets up our noses so much. Because you have to chuck out masses and masses of it, hoping that your sex cells, your male sex cells, which are held within the pollen, will somehow reach another flower just by chance. So all the grasses, which means all of the cereal crops, and most of the trees have wind-borne pollen. But most species actually use insects to do their bidding, and that's more intelligent in a way, because the pollen, they don't need so much of it. The insects and other species can take the pollen, transfer it directly to where it's required.
植物用以傳播這個生命訊息的方法 就是透過授粉 也許你們有人曾看過這些照片 就像我說的,每個人家裡都應該放台電子顯微鏡 來看這些東西。 花粉的種類, 正如開花植物那樣的多。 而且其實那只對愛好辯論的人有用。 大多數會引起花粉症的花粉 是從用風力授粉的植物而來 傳播花粉 (風力授粉) 是一種非常沒有效益的過程, 這也是為什麼它傳這麼多到我們鼻子裡的原因, 因為這植物必需要發出非常非常大量的花粉, 來使性胞子, 這邊特指雄性胞子, 也就是花粉所攜帶著的, 可以最終有希望到達別的花朵上, 所以所有的草, 這邊"草"指的是所有的穀類植物, 和大多數的樹木, 有著隨風而散佈的花粉, 但事實上大多數的種類, 是靠昆蟲來達到它們的目地, 從某個角度來說,這是相較之下較聰明的, 因為它們不需要用這麼多的花粉, 昆蟲 和其它的生物, 可以帶著花粉, 把它傳到目的地,
So we're aware, obviously, of the relationship between insects and plants. There's a symbiotic relationship there, whether it's flies or birds or bees, they're getting something in return, and that something in return is generally nectar. Sometimes that symbiosis has led to wonderful adaptations -- the hummingbird hawk-moth is beautiful in its adaptation. The plant gets something, and the hawk-moth spreads the pollen somewhere else. Plants have evolved to create little landing strips here and there for bees that might have lost their way. There are markings on many plants that look like other insects. These are the anthers of a lily, cleverly done so that when the unsuspecting insect lands on it, the anther flips up and whops it on the back with a great load of pollen that it then goes to another plant with. And there's an orchid that might look to you as if it's got jaws, and in a way, it has; it forces the insect to crawl out, getting covered in pollen that it takes somewhere else.
所以我們可以很明白的發現 昆蟲和植物之間的關係 那是一種共生的關係, 不論是蟲子或是鳥類, 它們都可以從中獲得某些回饋, 這裡所謂的回饋在大多數的情況下是花蜜, 有時候這種共生關系 會因著適應生存環境而產生美妙的變化 蜂鳥鷹一般的長喙, 就是一種美麗的適應作用 植物也得到一些好處 這鷹一般的長喙把花粉散佈到其它地方時 植物已逐步成型 用小的降落用的帶狀記號在這個部位和那個部位 讓錯失方向的蜜蜂可以找到 許多植物都有特別的記號 看起來就像是其它的昆蟲 這些是百合花的花藥 聰明的構造 讓不疑有它的昆蟲 停留在上面 花藥翻開並拍打在昆蟲的背上 讓大量的花粉可以在昆蟲身上並帶去另一棵植物 這是一棵蘭花 也許對你們來說,它看起來就像長了下巴一樣 而就某方面而言,它的確是。它迫使昆蟲從裡面爬出來, 因而覆蓋著花粉並帶到別處。
Orchids: there are 20,000, at least, species of orchids -- amazingly, amazingly diverse. And they get up to all sorts of tricks. They have to try and attract pollinators to do their bidding. This orchid, known as Darwin's orchid, because it's one that he studied and made a wonderful prediction when he saw it -- you can see that there's a very long nectar tube that descends down from the orchid. And basically what the insect has to do -- we're in the middle of the flower -- it has to stick its little proboscis right into the middle of that and all the way down that nectar tube to get to the nectar. And Darwin said, looking at this flower, "I guess something has coevolved with this." And sure enough, there's the insect. And I mean, normally it kind of rolls it away, but in its erect form, that's what it looks like.
蘭花有著,至少... 2萬以上的種類 非常非常神奇的多樣性 並擁有著各式各樣的花招 它們必需試著去吸引播粉者 來達到它們的目的 這棵蘭花,也就是所知的"達爾文的蘭花" (中文學名:慧星蘭) 因為這就是達爾文所研究 並在看到它時做出驚人的預測 你可以看出那有著很長的花蜜管 (學名:花距) 往下生長 從蘭花本身開始。 而且基本上,昆蟲所必需做的是 從花的中間 要把它細細的取食器 伸進這中間 一直順著花距下去, 來取得花蜜。 看著這花,達爾文說: "我猜有某個物種和這個一同進化了" 而正是如此 這就是那昆蟲的樣子, 我的意思是,雖然通常它都是卷著的 但在伸直之後 它看起來就是這樣
Now you can imagine that if nectar is such a valuable thing and expensive for the plant to produce and it attracts lots of pollinators, then, just as in human sex, people might start to deceive. They might say, "I've got a bit of nectar. Do you want to come and get it?" Now this is a plant. This is a plant here that insects in South Africa just love, and they've evolved with a long proboscis to get the nectar at the bottom. And this is the mimic. So this is a plant that is mimicking the first plant. And here is the long-probosced fly that has not gotten any nectar from the mimic, because the mimic doesn't give it any nectar. It thought it would get some. So not only has the fly not got the nectar from the mimic plant, it's also -- if you look very closely just at the head end, you can see that it's got a bit of pollen that it would be transmitting to another plant, if only some botanist hadn't come along and stuck it to a blue piece of card.
現在,你可想像 如果花蜜 是如此寶貴的東西 而且對植物來說生產的代價又高 又吸引這麼多的播種者 那麼,若將此觀念轉移到人類的性愛裡, 人類也許會開始去欺騙, 也許他們會說,"我這裡有一點花蜜唷!你們想過來弄一些嗎?" 現在,這裡有棵植物, 這裡的這棵植物 是南非的昆蟲所衷愛的, 而且他們演化出長的口器, 來取得底部的花蜜, 這個則是所謂的"擬態" 而這棵植物則是做出了擬態來模擬前棵植物的樣子 這是一隻有著長吸食器的蒼蠅 它從做出擬態的花得不到任何的花蜜 因為這個擬態者並不提供任何花蜜,蒼蠅卻覺得它應該可得到一些 所以不光是這個蒼蠅 沒辦法從擬態的植物得到花蜜, 它也是...假如你很靠近的觀察 在頭的項端,你可以看到那兒有一點花粉, 可以被傳播到另一株植物 不過這也是如果植物學家沒有過來 把它黏到藍色的卡片上面的話啦...(被拿去做實驗了)
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Now deceit carries on through the plant kingdom. This flower with its black dots: they might look like black dots to us, but if I tell you, to a male insect of the right species, that looks like two females who are really, really hot to trot. (Laughter) And when the insect gets there and lands on it, dousing itself in pollen, of course, that it's going to take to another plant, if you look at the every-home-should-have-one scanning electron microscope picture, you can see that there are actually some patterning there, which is three-dimensional. So it probably even feels good for the insect, as well as looking good.
這種欺詐的手段遍佈著植物界 這種花上有黑點: 對我們來說它們也許看起來就像黑點, 但如果我告訴你們~ 對於適當種類的雄性昆蟲來說, 那看起來像是 兩隻非常非常的讓它欲火焚身的雌性昆蟲 (笑聲) 而當昆蟲落在它上面的時候, 把它自己浸在花粉中,當然,那是它要帶到別株植物去的, 如果你看每戶人家都該有的電子顯微鏡照片 你可以看到實際那上面有一些紋路, 是三維立體的, 所以它說不定會讓昆蟲感覺很舒服, 不單只是很好看。
And these electron microscope pictures -- here's one of an orchid mimicking an insect -- you can see that different parts of the structure have different colors and different textures to our eye, have very, very different textures to what an insect might perceive. And this one is evolved to mimic a glossy metallic surface you see on some beetles. And under the scanning electron microscope, you can see the surface there -- really quite different from the other surfaces we looked at. Sometimes the whole plant mimics an insect, even to us. I mean, I think that looks like some sort of flying animal or beast. It's a wonderful, amazing thing.
接下來這些電子顯微鏡的相片-- 這是一棵蘭花擬態成昆蟲, 你看可看到構造上不同的部份 有著看來不一樣的顏色和不同的紋理 有著非常非常特別的質地 尤其是對於會被吸引的昆蟲而言 接著這個演化出模仿 一個發亮的金屬般的表面, 就像你可以在一些甲蟲身上看到的一樣 而在電子顯微鏡下面來看 你可以看到那邊的表面 和我們所看到的其它的表面非常的不同 有時候這整棵植物 看起來像一隻昆蟲,甚至對我們人類來說也是 我的意思是,我覺得那看起來像是某種飛行中的動物或野獸 這是一個美妙的、驚人的東西
This one's clever. It's called obsidian. I think of it as insidium sometimes. To the right species of bee, this looks like another very aggressive bee, and it goes and bonks it on the head lots and lots of times to try and drive it away, and, of course, covers itself with pollen. The other thing it does is that this plant mimics another orchid that has a wonderful store of food for insects. And this one doesn't have anything for them. So it's deceiving on two levels -- fabulous.
這個非常的聰明,它叫做黑曜石 我想它有時被稱為insidium。 對於某些蜂類而言, 這看起來像是非常有侵略性的蜂, 所以用頭去撞這個花好多次以試著去驅逐它, 而當然的,它也就被覆蓋著花粉了。 其它模仿的例子中 也有植物擬態成 那種蘊藏著很好的 昆蟲食物的蘭花。 而這棵裡面卻沒有任何東西可以提供給昆蟲。 所以它的欺騙有兩個層次上 實在難以置信。
(Laughter)
(眾人笑)
Here we see ylang ylang, the component of many perfumes. I actually smelt someone with some on earlier. And the flowers don't really have to be that gaudy. They're sending out a fantastic array of scent to any insect that'll have it. This one doesn't smell so good. This is a flower that really, really smells pretty nasty and is designed, again, evolved, to look like carrion. So flies love this. They fly in and they pollinate. This, which is helicodiceros, is also known as dead horse arum. I don't know what a dead horse actually smells like, but this one probably smells pretty much like it. It's really horrible. And blowflies just can't help themselves. They fly into this thing, and they fly all the way down it. They lay their eggs in it, thinking it's a nice bit of carrion, and not realizing that there's no food for the eggs, that the eggs are going to die, but the plant, meanwhile, has benefited, because the bristles release and the flies disappear to pollinate the next flower -- fantastic.
這邊我們可看到"依蘭依蘭"(香水樹) 是許多香水的原料 我剛剛其實有聞到有人有噴一些在身上。 這花並不需要那樣的艷麗 它們大量散發出迷人的香氣 讓任何昆蟲都沾上。 這個植物聞起來不那麼好 這是一朵 聞起來非常非常惡心的花 是經設計,也就是演化 聞起來像是腐肉 所以蒼蠅很喜歡 會飛來幫它授粉 白星海芋 也就是所知的死馬海芋 我不知道一頭死馬實際上聞起來怎樣, 但這個大概聞起來就像那樣, 真的很糟 緣頭蒼蠅會禁不起誘惑的 飛進這個東西 而且飛到最裡面 在那產卵 並以為這是一塊很合適的腐肉 卻不知道那裡並沒有可供給那些蛋的食物,那些蛋會死掉 但這種植物卻同時得到好處 因為 而這些蒼蠅會走掉 去將下一朵花授粉 -- 太美妙了。
Here's arum, arum maculatum, "lords and ladies," or "cuckoo-pint" in this country. I photographed this thing last week in Dorset. This thing heats up by about 15 degrees above ambient temperature -- amazing. And if you look down into it, there's this sort of dam past the spadix, flies get attracted by the heat -- which is boiling off volatile chemicals, little midges -- and they get trapped underneath in this container. They drink this fabulous nectar and then they're all a bit sticky. At night they get covered in pollen, which showers down over them, and then the bristles that we saw above, they sort of wilt and allow all these midges out, covered in pollen -- fabulous thing.
這是一棵斑葉疆南星 叫做君子與淑女,我國稱之為水芋百合 我上週在多實郡(英國英格蘭西南部的郡)照了這張相 這種植物可以升溫到 比週圍高15度 真厲害~ 如果你往下看進去 有點像是堤壩的東西穿過這個肉穗花序, 蒼蠅會被熱所吸引 熱將化學物質蒸散, 而小蚊子 和蒼蠅被困在這個容器中。 他們喝這個極佳的花蜜, 然後他們也都變的有點黏黏的 到了晚上,他們披覆著 灑在他們身上的花粉, 我們剛剛看到的短硬毛 會變得有些枯萎並讓這些小蚊蟲覆蓋著花粉離開, 多美妙的事啊!
Now if you think that's fabulous, this is one of my great favorites. This is the philodendron selloum. For anyone here from Brazil, you'll know about this plant. This is the most amazing thing. That sort of phallic bit there is about a foot long. And it does something that no other plant that I know of does, and that is that when it flowers -- that's the spadix in the middle there -- for a period of about two days, it metabolizes in a way which is rather similar to mammals. So instead of having starch, which is the food of plants, it takes something rather similar to brown fat and burns it at such a rate that it's burning fat, metabolizing, about the rate of a small cat. And that's twice the energy output, weight for weight, than a hummingbird -- absolutely astonishing. This thing does something else which is unusual. Not only will it raise itself to 115 Fahrenheit, 43 or 44 degrees Centigrade, for two days, but it keeps constant temperature. There's a thermoregulation mechanism in there that keeps constant temperature. "Now why does it do this," I hear you ask. Now wouldn't you know it, there's some beetles that just love to make love at that temperature. And they get inside, and they get it all on. (Laughter) And the plant showers them with pollen, and off they go and pollinate. And what a wonderful thing it is.
若你覺得剛剛的是很棒的,現在的這個是我最愛的之一 這是"裂葉蔓綠絨" (或稱"春羽蔓綠絨",或"天使蔓綠絨") 對於這裡任何一位來自巴西的人來說,你們其實知道這個植物 這是最神奇的東西 那個有點像陽具的東西 大約一呎長 據我所知 沒有任何其他植物會進行像它那樣的行為, 那就是當它開花時 這中間的這個是肉穗花序 為期兩天 它會某方面的變形 變得有點像是哺乳類動物一般 所以它與其像植物般的使用澱粉 也就是植物的食物 它反而使用像是棕脂肪這類的東西 以某種速率燃燒它 它燃燒脂肪, 新陳代謝 用像是一隻小貓的速度 若和一隻相等重量的蜂鳥相比 相當於是兩倍的能量輸出 絕對是另人震驚的 這個東西還有另一個非比尋常的事情 它不但將它提升到華氏115度的溫度 或攝氏43或44度, 兩天 還保持恆定的溫度 那是一種自體溫度調結的機制 並且保持固定的溫度 為什麼它要這樣做呢?我聽你這樣問 其實你有所不知 有某種的金龜子就喜歡在那種溫度作愛, 它們到那裡面,全力以赴~ (眾人笑~) 而這植物在它們身上灑上花粉 當它們走之後也順便授粉 這是多麼奇妙的事啊!!
Now most pollinators that we think about are insects, but actually in the tropics, many birds and butterflies pollinate. And many of the tropical flowers are red, and that's because butterflies and birds see similarly to us, we think, and can see the color red very well. But if you look at the spectrum, birds and us, we see red, green and blue and see that spectrum. Insects see green, blue and ultraviolet, and they see various shades of ultraviolet. So there's something that goes on off the end there. "And wouldn't it be great if we could somehow see what that is," I hear you ask. Well yes we can. So what is an insect seeing? Last week I took these pictures of rock rose, helianthemum, in Dorset. These are little yellow flowers like we all see, little yellow flowers all over the place. And this is what it looks like with visible light. This is what it looks like if you take out the red. Most bees don't perceive red. And then I put some ultraviolet filters on my camera and took a very, very long exposure with the particular frequencies of ultraviolet light and this is what I got. And that's a real fantastic bull's eye.
大多數的授粉者 我們覺得是昆蟲 但其實在熱帶地區 很多是鳥類或蝴蝶 很多的熱帶花朵是紅色的, 那是因為蝴蝶和鳥類 我們認為和人類一樣有類似的視覺, 可以很容易的看到紅色 但如果你就光譜來看 鳥類和我們可以看到紅色、綠色和藍色, 並看到這個光譜 昆蟲看到綠色、藍色和紫外線, 並且是各種不同色調的紫外線, 因此,在這光譜以外的範圍,可看見一些不同情形 我聽到你問說"如果我們也可以看到不是很好嗎?" 嗯... 是的,我們可以。 那麼昆蟲看到的是什麼樣子呢? 上週我照了這些岩玫瑰的照片 半日花, 在多實郡 (英國) 正如我們所見的這些小黃花 小黃花開滿了那個地方 這是在可見光下它看起來的樣子 這是拿掉紅色之後它看起來的樣子 大部份的蜂類不能看到紅色 然後我在我的相機放上幾片紫外線濾鏡 然後讓它非常非常長時間的曝光 在某些特別的紫外光下 這是我所照到的 那是一個真的絕佳的靶心
Now we don't know exactly what a bee sees, any more than you know what I'm seeing when I call this red. We can't know what's going on in -- let alone an insect's -- another human being's mind. But the contrast will look something like that, so standing out a lot from the background. Here's another little flower -- different range of ultraviolet frequencies, different filters to match the pollinators. And that's the sort of thing that it would be seeing. Just in case you think that all yellow flowers have this property -- no flower was damaged in the process of this shot; it was just attached to the tripod, not killed -- then under ultraviolet light, look at that. And that could be the basis of a sunscreen because sunscreens work by absorbing ultraviolet light. So maybe the chemical in that would be useful.
我們不知道 蜜蜂真正看到了什麼 正如你對我所能看到的東西也是有限的 當我叫這個是紅的 我們並不能知道...先撇除昆蟲不說 另一個人的心境 但對比之下就像是那樣 從背景中如此的突出 這是另一種小的花 不同的紫外光頻率範圍 不同的濾鏡 來對應授粉者 那就像是它可能看到的樣子 就為了你你也許會想 所有的黃花都有這種特性 沒有一朵花在這個拍攝過程中被傷害 它只是被安裝到三角架上了 而不是被殺了 在紫外光下面 看那個 那可以是防曬乳的基礎 因為防曬乳借由吸收紫外線來作用 也許那裡面所含的化學物質會有用
Finally, there's one of evening primrose that Bjorn Rorslett from Norway sent me -- fantastic hidden pattern. And I love the idea of something hidden. I think there's something poetic here, that these pictures taken with ultraviolet filter, the main use of that filter is for astronomers to take pictures of Venus -- actually the clouds of Venus. That's the main use of that filter. Venus, of course, is the god of love and fertility, which is the flower story. And just as flowers spend a lot of effort trying to get pollinators to do their bidding, they've also somehow managed to persuade us to plant great fields full of them and give them to each other at times of birth and death, and particularly at marriage, which, when you think of it, is the moment that encapsulates the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another.
最後那是月見草的一種 挪威的 Bjorn Rorslett 送給我的 絕妙的隱藏圖案 我喜歡"隱藏"的這個概念 我想那有某種的詩意 這些照片是用紫外光濾鏡所照 而這個濾鏡主要的用途 是讓太空人照金星的 實際上是金星的雲 那是這個濾鏡主要的用途 維納斯女神 (金星在英文中的另一個意思), 當然, 是愛與繁殖之神 是花一般的故事 而正如花朵用盡了許多的努力 讓授粉者完成他們的使命 某方面而言他們也說服了我們種植了滿滿是花朵的大園地 將它們贈與對方 無論是在誕生或是死亡的時候 特別是在婚禮 也就是 - 當你細細的想著 是一個特別的時刻,它包含了 遺傳物質的轉換 從一個生命體到另一個
Thank you very much.
十分的感謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)