A Japanese flower lures in its pollinators with a morbid perfume — the scent of injured ants.
The unusual scent belongs to Vincetoxicum nakaianum, a recently named species of Japanese dogsbane. Botanist Ko Mochizuki of the University of Tokyo discovered the plant’s grisly allure after noticing clouds of scavenging grass flies hovering around its unassuming flowers. Experiments revealed that the plant’s odor is a near-perfect chemical match to the distress signals released by injured ants, Mochizuki reports in the Oct. 20 Current Biology. The trick dupes the flies into visiting and inadvertently pollinating the blooms.
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