Love is blind

2001/03/05 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Botanika

There are several types of orchids that have the smell and appearance of female insects, so it is no wonder that males try to cover the flowers. Perhaps more than one seems like useless work, but orchids are able to thank these fiery male insects. In this way they expand pollen and are almost essential for the reproduction of flowers.

In addition, the researchers saw that they only covered unpollinated orchids, but they did not know the behavior of the insect. The work published this month in the journal Oecologia has an answer. It seems that the fraud of orchids to insects is deeper than scientists thought.

Researchers at the University of Vienna analyze the European orchid Ophris sphenodes. Its flowers have the same shape, color and smell as the female bee Andrena nigroaenea, its only pollinator. Researchers have chemically analyzed the smell of more than a hundred flowers, half unpollinated and the other half after 1-4 days of pollination.

Inseminated females release a hormone and researchers have found that in addition to the hormone itself in pollinated flowers, the amount of hormone was twice that of an unpollinated orchid. On the other hand, the placement of a hormone in an unpollinated orchid showed that the male bee lost all its interest. Andrena nigroaenea is a rather scarce bee, so the flowers prefer that the male visit still non-pollinated flowers with the already pollinated ones without wasting time.

Orchid experts have been surprised by this news, as it proves that the relationship between orchids and insects is much closer than expected.