To: ManyMoose who wrote (20023 ) 3/14/1999 9:18:00 AM From: lorrie coey Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 20981
Evidently Dave, such harmony is not possible in Vertebrates. The flowers you mention are able to "self-pollinate"...they are hermaphroditic...each flower has pistils and stamens in itself...talk about self-reliance! So once again, you compare two mutually exclusive things...ie, humans and flowers. Humans are rarely hermaphroditic, but it does happen...see Camille Paglia!<G> You cannot compare a consensual act to a violation...unless you want keep comparing apples to snakes. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)Hermaphrodite \Her*maph"ro*dite\, n. [L. hermaphroditus, Gr. ?, so called from the mythical story that Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, when bathing, became joined in one body with Salmacis, the nymph of a fountain in Caria: cf. F.hermaphrodite.] (Biol.) An individual which has the attributes of both male and female, or which unites in itself the two sexes; an animal or plant having the parts of generation of both sexes, as when a flower contains both the stamens and pistil within the same calyx, or on the same receptacle. In some cases reproduction may take place without the union of the distinct individuals.In the animal kingdom true hermaphrodites are found only among the invertebrates. See Illust. in Appendix, under Helminths. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)Hermaphrodite \Her*maph"ro*dite\, a. Including, or being of, both sexes; as, an hermaphrodite animal or flower. Hermaphrodite brig. (Naut.) See under {Brig}. --Totten. From WordNet (r) 1.6 (wn) hermaphrodite adj : (biology) of animal or plant; having both male female reproductive organs [syn: {hermaphroditic}]n: one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs [syn: {gynandromorph}, {androgyne}, {epicine}, {epicine person}] ...and you should never hate to tell me anything.