The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom is a book on evolution in plants by Charles Darwin, first published in 1876. In this book Darwin examines the effects of cross and self fertilisation of plants and provides experimental evidence for a hypothesis stated in his famed book of 1859, Origin of Species, that "... in none [i.e. plant] [...]can self-fertilisation go on for perpetuity" ("Origin", p. 101). He reports on experiments conducted on over 60 different species of plants, where he used controlled pollinations in
On the Origin of Species included evidence that he had gathered on the "Beagle" expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation. Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy