XSworld

By XSworld

Crosspollination par excellence

The black carpenter bee has turned orange on its thorax after rubbing it against the anthers (pollin pads) while foraging nectar on the passiflora flower, not just the prettiest flower in any garden but also an engineering masterpiece of nature, carefully optimized through millions of years of evolution. Not only are the anthers designed as a series of "back-rubbers" for large bees crawling around the center of the flower while feeding, but "due to the movements of floral verticils, the anthers were positioned in a way that favors pollination two hours before the stigmas reached the same position."  So every day, the passionflower has three floral stages "in the first and the third, only the anthers can be contacted by the legitimate visitors while in the second, both the anthers and the stigmas are placed in the way of the pollinators."  that is pretty clever if you ask me. In addition the passiflora produces nectar throughout the day in order to feed the visiting pollinators through all the floral stages. Win win situation for everyone!

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.