Pollen Fastens to a Bee's Head

Biological Strategy

Orchids

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Attach Temporarily

Living systems must sometimes, temporarily, stay in one place, climb or otherwise move around, or hold things together. This entails attaching temporarily with the ability to release, which minimizes energy and material use. Some living systems repeatedly attach, detach, and reattach for an extended time, such as over their lifetimes. Despite being temporary, these attachments must withstand physical and other forces until they have achieved their purpose. Therefore, living systems have adapted attachment mechanisms optimized for the amount of time or number of times they must be used. An example is the gecko, which climbs walls by attaching its toes for less than a second. Other examples include insects that attach their eggs to a leaf until they hatch, and insects whose wings temporarily attach during flight but separate after landing.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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The column of some orchids descends from the top of the flower when a male bee lands and deposits pollinia on its head.

With European orchids, “If and when a male bee finds the flower, he settles upon the lip, grasping it in exactly the same way as he grasps a female bee, and tries to copulate, thrusting the tip of his abdomen into the fringe of long hairs at the end of the lip. He fails, of course, but in the process, a curved column that houses both male and female organs, descends from the top of the orchid and glues a pair of pollinia to his head. If the next orchid he visits has already despatched its pollinia, then the column will pick up the one he carries and the orchid is fertilised.” (Attenborough 1995:126)

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The Private Life of Plants

21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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