Getting a Grip
Ever wonder how a bee or a butterfly can land on a flower and not fall off?
Me neither.
But thanks to researchers in the UK, we now have another reason why flowers are so marvelous.
Flowering plants have evolved chemical signals to attract pollinators to their flowers. Such signals include volatile chemicals to produce attractive odors and pigments to produce attractive flower colors or even so-called “honey guides”. For a brief review please see here (PDF).
Years ago, investigators noticed a difference in cells on the surface of some flower petals. Instead of the typical flat, tile-like surface of leaves, some of the petal epidermal cells were cone-shaped, producing a much rougher surface.
This led some biologists to hypothesize that such flower petal microtexture is a tactile cue for bees.
In a recent issue of the journal Current Biology Heather Whitney and colleagues present evidence that the flower petal microtexture allows bees to grip flowers and increase foraging efficiency. (Nice summaries of the paper can be found both here and here.)
Reference:
Whitney et al., Conical Epidermal Cells Allow Bees to Grip Flowers and Increase Foraging Efficiency, Current Biology (2009), doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.051
Bottom Line: In addition to attracting pollinators using olfactory and visual cues, flowers may also provide tactile cues to facilitate pollination.
