For the first time, orchids that consume fungi have been observed offering their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in return for pollination services. This discovery represents the first evidence of nursery pollination in orchids. This unique new plant-animal relationship hints at an evolutionary
plant biologist Suetsugu Kenji, a specialist on these orchids, noticed that a certain species of this genus,, has particularly fleshy petals that decompose and fall off a few days after pollination. He decided to investigate these plants in the search for the first example of orchids engaging in “nursery pollination”, which is a plant offering a breeding ground to its pollinator.
Reference: “A novel nursery pollination system between a mycoheterotrophic orchid and mushroom-feeding flies” by Kenji Suetsugu, 23 August 2023,
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