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Aristolochia arborea
Take a look at the reddish-brown flowers blooming on the trunk of Aristolochia arborea.
If you examine them more closely you may recognise that appears to be a small capped
mushroom.
What do you think a mushroom is doing inside a flower?
As you might have guessed this is another example of the ways how which plants try to
attract specific pollinators – in this case mushroom gnats. This tiny insects look for
particular types of fungi on which to lay their eggs. Aristolochia arborea imitate one
of these mushrooms perfectly, even under the microscope the surface of the false mushroom
is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Aristolochia has to make such a perfect
impression or the mushroom gnats won’t land to lay eggs. Then they do they slide of the
slippery surface, get caught in the trap behind the false mushroom, and pollinate the flower.
Aristolochia double-crosses its pollinators. They fertilize it and receive nothing
in exchange, no pollen, no nectar, not even a place to lay their eggs. Only the plant
benefits from this one-sided relationship.
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Aristolochia arborea (MP3, 540 KB)
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