The common bottlebrush is another flower with more structure than one would see at first look. The pollen sticks on little bulbs at the ends of the red tubes and the stamen are buried deep inside. Since gravity and wind must play a role in the pollination, most of the successful pollen must drop from a pollinator on the top side of the flower or from an entirely different flower above. It's a curious struction because the basic brush shape seems to be an extremely ineffective design for collecting pollen.
The common bottlebrush is another flower with more structure than one would see at first look. The pollen sticks on little bulbs at the ends of the red tubes and the stamen are buried deep inside. Since gravity and wind must play a role in the pollination, most of the successful pollen must drop from a pollinator on the top side of the flower or from an entirely different flower above. It's a curious struction because the basic brush shape seems to be an extremely ineffective design for collecting pollen.
No comments:
Post a Comment