Plant Signaling & Behavior

Francis Darwin (1848–1925): The Biologist in the Shadow of Father Charles

Next year marks the 100^th anniversary of the death of Sir Francis Darwin (1848–1925) – the plant biologist and naturalist in the shadow of his famous father Charles (1809–1882). Francis was the 7^th child and third son of Charles and Emma Darwin. He is best known for his monograph “The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, including an Autobiographical Chapter” – Edited by Francis Darwin – 3 Vols. John Murray, London 1887/8.

Francis Darwin was not only the assistant of father Charles, and co-author of “The Power of Movements in Plants, 1880”, but also acted as an independent, creative scientist. As Lecturer/Reader in botany at Cambridge University, 1884–1904, he published two important books on Plant Physiology/Botany, and numerous research papers on the following topics: Significance and function of stomata, transpiration, organ growth, movements, such as tropisms etc.

Francis Darwin studied Plant Physiology under Julius Sachs (1832–1897) at Würzburg University (Germany) and, accordingly, later published original research papers on different topics: plant development, metabolism and movements. Unfortunately, the original contributions and books of Francis Darwin are largely unknown today, so that we can hardly find references to his work in the current literature. This Article Collection will be introduced by an Editorial authored by Ulrich Kutschera and Frantisek Baluska. Then, we want to publish Research Papers, Short Communications and Perspectives. References to the C. & F. Darwin – Book 1880, and papers authored by F. D., are recommended.

Keywords: Charles and Francis Darwin, Plant movements, Growth and development, Stomata and transpiration, Francis Darwin and Experimental Plant Physiology

Guest Advisors: 

Prof. Ulrich Kutschera Ph.D. is an evolutionary biologist & plant physiologist who has published ca. 350 papers and 16 books. He is scientific advisor at I-Cultiver – California and scientific collaborator in the R. Khanna – group at the Carnegie Institution, Stanford CA 94305, USA.

Prof. František Baluška Ph.D. is a professor at the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Botany (IZMB) at the University of Bonn. His research interests encompass plant roots, the cytoskeleton, cell polarity and tip-growth, endocytosis, vesicle recycling, plant signaling, plant behavior, and the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Dr. Baluška serves as Editor-in-Chief for Plant Signaling & Behavior and Communicative & Integrative Biology. He is also editor of the book series entitled ‘Signaling and Communication in Plants’ at the Springer Verlag. He has published over 160 scientific papers, contributing significantly to advancing the fields of plant biology and plant behavior. Here is the link to his ORCID page: Frantisek Baluska (0000-0001-8763-7861) - ORCID

Disclosure statement: Both Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope  and author submission instructions  prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is December 31st, 2025.

Please contact Ruby Ru at ruby.ru@taylorandfrancis.com  with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the relevant Article Collection from the drop-down menu under the question, "Special Issue or Article Collection Name."