- Science
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
Berry Go Round #8
Welcome to the eighth edition of Berry Go Round, the carnival that celebrates the blogosphere’s coverage of all things botanical. I’m not going to try and top Bora’s magnificent LOLPlant effort, so without further ado, here’s the good stuff:
Many orchid flowers are just plain porn (to hymenoptera, I mean). But how far can the little critters be deceived in their mating attempt? In the Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species), the lure is working so far as to have their pollinators ejaculating on the flowers, and thus wasting precious gametes that would have otherwise well served them to an actual reproduction. One has to realise the cost of wasp porn… (though the abused wasps usually don’t get tricked twice).
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