Thrifty flowers

Pollen is a valuable commodity. The less pollen needed, the more energy is left for other functions. Flowers resort to several strategies to economize on pollen. Some use a method called explosive pollination, others resort to buzz pollination. Both methods are well illustrated by official state flowers.

Mountain laurel in bloom. © Beatriz Moisset

Explosive Pollination of Mountain Laurels

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), Pennsylvania’s and Connecticut's state flower, has a singular way to ensure that its insect visitors carry pollen to other flowers of its species. The unopened blossoms present little knobs which give them a funny look. Their function becomes apparent when the flower opens. They are pockets that hold the anthers trapped. Anthers are the part of the flower that produces male cells, pollen.

Mountain laurel flower before an insect's visit.  © Beatriz Moisset

Flower tripped by an insect. © Beatriz Moisset

In most flowers the anthers are free and exposed to spread their pollen at the slightest touch of a flower visitor. The mountain laurel has a different strategy. The pollen is well protected against rain and wind; but, when a pollinator lands on the flower searching for nectar, the weight acts as a trigger, causing the taut stem of the anther to spring. The anther hits the pollinator gently on the back and gives it a dusting of pollen.

This method allows mountain laurel flowers to produce only a moderate amount of pollen because most of it ends up where it is intended, on the body of a pollinator, rather than being wasted in other ways.

Connecticut: Mountain laurel

Pennsylvania: Mountain laurel

Explosive Pollination of Pea-like Flowers

Texas Bluebonnet. Wikicommons © Jacopo Werther

Other flowers encase both the pollen-producing parts and the female parts, or stigma, into a sheath. Some members of the pea family, Fabaceae, have flowers that resemble a butterfly, this is why this subfamily is called Papilionoideae, papilio meaning butterfly. The top petal is large and shaped as the sail of a ship and is called the banner. Two side petals are called wings, and the bottom two petals are merged into one forming a sheath that encloses both the anthers and the stigma. This structure looks like the keel of a boat and it is so called.

Structure of a papilionoid flower. Wikicommons. © David Richfield

When a pollinator lands on a blossom, its weight triggers a mechanism causing the keel to spread open and the anthers and stigma jump up out of the enclosure. This is called tripping. The insect has to be heavy enough to cause such reaction. Some bumble bees are pros at this task; honey bees, on the other hand, dislike being pounced upon. After a few times, they learn to sneak around and steal the nectar through a small opening at the base of the keel. Only novices perform pollination. Once they learn this trick no more pollen is transferred to the stigmas. Nevertheless managed honey bees are widely used to pollinate alfalfa and clover. Bee hives provide a large labor force that makes up for this deficiency. Some bumble bees, especially the short-tongued species, are also inclined to a little larceny. However, they are generally considered highly competent pollinators of alfalfa and clover.

Clover, another papilionoid flower. © Beatriz Moisset

Texas’ bluebonnet (Lupinus) and Vermont’s red clover (Trifolium pratense) need to be tripped. Six species of lupines, all of them called bluebonnets because of their appearance, live in Texas. All six of them are considered the state flower. The red clover, Vermont’s state flower, on the other hand, is not a native plant. It is an important crop used to feed livestock.

Texas: Bluebonnet

Vermont: Red Clover

Buzz Pollination or the Salt Shaker Technique

Other flowers make the pollinators work for pollen in a different way. Interestingly enough, honey bees never learned how to do the job I will describe, but native bumble bees and numerous species of bees are real pros.

Azalea Andrena bee pollinating azalea. Observe the pores at the tips of the anthers. © Beatriz Moisset

In most flowers the pollen is made available to pollinators as soon as it is ripe. The anther splits open. We all have seen the golden dust many flowers have. If we touch it, it sticks to our fingers. Rhododendrons and azaleas do something else. They keep the pollen enclosed inside the anther. It can only come out through a small opening at the tip. Several other native flowers, like tomato and blueberry have a similar characteristic.

In order to extract it, the bee has to cling to the anther and give it a good shake. It accomplishes this by vibrating its flight muscles while keeping the wings still; it is like running the car engine in neutral. Pollen comes in clouds and clings to the body of the pollinator. Later, the bee proceeds to package its loot in the little baskets of the hind legs.

Buzz pollination of azalea. Video. © Beatriz Moisset

Two states have official flowers that exemplify this method of pollination, Washington has chosen the Coast Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) and West Virginia has another species of Rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum). Georgia’s official wildflower, azalea (Rhododendron prunifolium), follows the same system of pollination; its official flower is the rose; but, fortunately, they decided to honor a native plant in addition to a non-native flower.

Georgia (official wildflower): Azalea

Washington: Coast Rhododendron

West Virginia: Rhododendron

Other plants select their pollinator clientele through other methods. Some hide the nectar rather than the pollen. A different set of skills are needed to deal with these flowers as we'll see in the next post.

References

Pollination of mountain laurel

Image illustrating the parts of a Papilionoid flower

Red clover pollination (also alfalfa)

Legume pollination

Bluebonnet pollination

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2015

The Earliest Pollinators: Beetles and Flies

Magnolia © Beatriz Moisset

 By the time the first flowering plants appeared on Earth there weren’t any bees or butterflies. Those superb pollinators would take millions of years to evolve from wasps and moths respectively. So, who would be attracted to flowers? Who would carry pollen?

Other insects, although not adapted to sipping nectar and storing pollen in little baskets, liked to visit flowering plants to eat the pollen. Sometimes, they also devoured the flowers themselves. Beetles and flies were among the earliest pollinators. These two groups of insects visit the flowers of magnolia and water lilies to this day. In general, flowers pollinated by beetles are cup-shaped to allow these insects to stay for some time. They are strongly scented by fruity or rotten smell. The petals may be tough and leathery, helping them to put up with the abuse; many of them are greenish or creamy white.

Tumbling flower beetles on magnolia © Beatriz Moisset

The state flower of Louisiana and of Mississippi is the Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) which is an example of some of the oldest flowering plants; it presents all the qualities listed above and it is pollinated by beetles that use the flowers as a singles bar. They stay for hours eating, drinking, mating and making a mess of the place. When they arrive, usually only the female part of the flower is mature enough, so if they carry pollen from other flowers they get cross-pollinated, but by the time the beetles leave, the stamens or male parts have become ripe. The visitors get easily dusted with it and ready to carry it to the next awaiting singles bar. Beetles and flies find a coating of nectar covering the petals that they can slurp as they go along.

Dance fly on Magnolia © Beatriz Moisset

It is worth mentioning here the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) because it is the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. The state flowers of Indiana and Tennessee are not native; they are the peony and iris, respectively, so I like to think of the tulip tree blossom as the honorary state flower of these two states. The tulip tree is a relative of magnolias, equally ancient; its flower bears some resemblance to magnolias. It is also pollinated by beetles, although bees and other insects also contribute to its pollination.

Another ancient flower, the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), California’s state flower is also pollinated by beetles in some instances. These are more numerous than bees in arid areas. Several species of bees, including honey bees also pollinate these flowers.

California poppy © Audrey. Flickr

State flowers that illustrate the earliest pollinators:
Louisiana: Magnolia

Mississippi: Magnolia

California: California Poppy

Once plants came up with this novel solution to their fertilization process, there was no stopping them. Evolution accelerated and an ever growing variety of flowering plants emerged from the older lineages. In turn, more insects evolved to take advantage of this resource. This is how some carnivorous wasps went vegetarian. They became what we now know as bees. Pollen and nectar supplied all their needs.

Also some moths developed a taste for nectar during their adult life. Unlike most moths, they were diurnal and often sported fancy colors. In other words, they evolved into butterflies. Being frequent flower visitors they became pollinators. This is not to say that wasps and moths, the predecessors of bees and butterflies don’t pollinate. In fact some of them are valuable and are highly specialized ones.

The following posts deal with these pollinators and their flowers.  We will start with the ones who invite a wide assortment of guests. They have mass appeal and several state flowers illustrate this nicely.

Pollinators of Official State Flowers 
Mass Appeal and Pollination

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2015

Before there were flowers: Wind Pollination

Pine tassels. © Beatriz Moisset

Pine cones. © Beatriz Moisset

Maine’s state flower is rather unusual because it is not a flower in the real sense. It is the white pine’s (Pinus strobus) tassel and cone. These are not flowers but serve the same function: the tassels produce pollen that has to arrive at the small, immature cones to produce seeds. Only then the cones can grow and reach maturity. Maine residents must be mighty proud of their pines and for very good reasons. It is a handsome tree of great value, and the tassels and cones, although not as colorful as most true flowers, are quite handsome. I am delighted at this peculiar choice because it serves to illustrate a significant point of pollination.

Long before there were any animal pollinators, only the wind performed this function. Wind pollinated plants have to produce vast quantities of pollen so that just a few grains can arrive to their destination; the immense majority never even come near the female cones and simply goes to waste. Pines, firs, spruce, and other conifers belong to an ancient lineage that appeared long before pollinators entered the scene. Thus they were and still are pollinated by the wind. Despite its inefficiency, this method works well enough when many plants of the same species grow relatively close to each other. This is why conifer forests are composed of only a small number of species. This is also why corn, another wind pollinated plant, needs at least several rows of plants to produce seeds.

Pollen dispersal by wind. © Beatriz Moisset

Getting back to the pine, both the tassel and the cone are well-adapted to their functions, increasing the chances that wind-carried pollen finds its destination. The tassels are placed higher on the tree. The cones are aerodynamically shaped to create small air whirlpools that direct the pollen grains toward the seeds. For millions of years, the land was dominated by these plants, along with even older ones, the seedless ones that reproduce by spores. The more ancient dinosaurs never saw a flower, nor did they care. The flower revolution was yet to come, and once started it would take the land by storm and spread to distant corners. Nowadays, wind pollinated conifers are more common than flowering plants only in harsh and cold environments near polar regions. Most plants everywhere else produce flowers.

The great advantage of flowers and of animal pollinated plants is that pollinators are more efficient than wind alone in transporting pollen to the intended target, thus even if individual plants are far apart, they still succeed at being pollinated. In fact, forests of tropical regions are made largely of blooming trees with so many different species packed in the same space that a pollinator has to travel some distance between members of the same species. So pollinators contribute to biodiversity, which in turn contributes to a more efficient way of using all available ecological resources.

Now I can get on with the story of pollinators of state flowers.

Also see: Pollinators of Official State Flowers 

References 
Maine: White pine tassel and cone 

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2015

Pollinators of Official State Flowers

A tale of pollinators and pollination

as told by the official state flowers

 

We love flowers for their beauty and for the impact they have on diverse aspects of our lives. That is why we honor them by choosing an official state flower for each state of the union. A look at the list of state flowers reveals an amazing variety of shapes, colors, perfumes and blooming seasons. Some flowers are open and rather flat; others are elongated, trumpet like, with spurs, or intricately shaped. They may be grouped in clusters or stand alone. They come in a rainbow of colors and their scents are equally varied. Some bloom briefly in just one season, others do it for a longer time.

Why do plants have flowers and why is there such a variety? We seldom think about a flower’s function.  Some even feel that they were put here for our enjoyment. The fact is that their whole purpose is to attract pollinators, those love messengers that carry pollen from blossom to blossom ensuring the development of fruits and seeds and thus the future of the plant’s species. The great variety of flowers is a sign of the diversity of their pollinators. Both the flower and the pollinator complement each other to the point that, in some cases, only one kind of pollinator can perform the job for a particular kind of plant. This mutual fine tuning is the result of a long process of co-evolution. Often one can tell the type of pollinator by looking at the structure of the flower. For instance, flat, open flowers can be pollinated by short tongued insects; longer ones require longer tongued visitors. Tubular flowers are often pollinated by hummingbirds or very long-tongued moths. Night-bloomers are pollinated by night-flyers such as hawk moths or bats.

We often think of the honey bee as the ultimate pollinator and we seldom recognize the fact that many other insects, as well as some other creatures perform that job, in fact many plants have absolutely no use for honey bees. It is true that honey bees are incredibly adaptable and that they visit a wide array of flowers through several seasons, we could say that they are “Jacks of all trades” but we must remember the second half of that saying: “and masters of none”. In many instances flowers fare better in the absence of honey bees because some of them have developed a long standing partnership with their respective pollinators. Honey bees could interfere with such specialized pollinators.

Years ago, I was looking at a book on state flowers and was astonished at their variety. It occurred to me that it was possible to teach an entire course on pollination using state flowers as examples. All it takes is one look at the assortment of state flowers to see that there must be a similar diversity of pollinators belonging to several different groups of animals, not just bees, but also flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and even bats and birds. Maybe some day, the states will recognize the importance of pollinators and decide to honor them also. After all, flowers would not exist without pollinators.

Some flowers accept a variety of pollinators, for instance, black eyed Susan (Maryland’s state flower) and goldenrod (state flower of Kentucky, Nebraska and South Carolina). Others are more selective, such as the flowering dogwood (state flower of North Carolina and Virginia). A few are extremely specialized like the yucca (state flower of New Mexico), which needs a tiny moth. No one else can do the job. Still others require unusual pollinators like the saguaro (state flower of Arizona) whose main pollinators are bats, or columbines (state flower of Colorado) which are pollinated by hummingbirds.

Curiously, thirteen states have chosen official state flowers that are not native and therefore not truly representative of the state. Fortunately seven of them decided to add an official state wildflower, for instance, the state flower of Ohio is the carnation and its wildflower is the white trillium. I will mention a few of them because they contribute something valuable to this tale of pollination. In other cases, I will refer to the state tree if it bears flowers that add something to the pollination story.

One may wonder why some states chose flowers native to the old world rather than those that represent the state flora. It seems that state flowers were chosen more for their beauty, or economic importance. Perhaps part of the explanation is that this is such a nation of immigrants that many people are more familiar with the rose or the carnation than with any local flowers. Economic importance counts too. Thus, it comes as no surprise that Florida chose the orange blossom as a state flower.

In a few cases there is some confusion about the choice of state flower. This is not surprising considering that legislators are not botanists. The common name could include only one or several species of similar plants. Which one of several violets is the state symbol? Those states that chose the rose, were they thinking of a native species of rose, or one of the common cultivated varieties? Different sources give slightly different interpretations to these choices. In general, I will follow the scientific nomenclature used by the United States National Arboretum, but I may include other interpretations in some instances if they illustrate an interesting pollination point.

Here is the story of pollination and pollinators as told through the examples of official state flowers. In the next post I will describe the kind of pollination that took place long before there were any insects or other animals to do the job, in fact, long before there were flowers. Then, I will examine the earliest forms of insect pollination. In following posts I will cover an assortment of floral strategies, from the ones that attract hordes of different pollinators to the specialists that prefer to deal with a select number of helpers or even just one. I will include some strategies that include nasty tricks played on pollinators and also an intriguing phenomenon, toxic nectar. It makes one wonder why a flower would want to make its pollinators sick. I haven’t forgotten pollinators of a different kind, non-insect ones, birds and bats. Finally, to wrap up this tale, I will take a look at state flowers and pollinators of economic importance.

More on pollinators and state flowers

Before there were Flowers: Wind Pollination

The Earliest Pollinators: Beetles and Flies

Mass Appeal and Pollination
This Way to the Restaurant

 

References

US National Arboretum. Trees and Flowers

State Symbols, USA

Netstate. Official State Flowers 

Dowden, Anne O. State Flowers. 1978
Cooper, Jason, The Rourke Guide to State Symbols. Flowers. 194

List of articles
Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2015