Brazilian flowers use pollen catapults to dominate the pollination battles

Flowers of Hypenia macrantha, a species native to Brazil, have been observed to use unique mechanisms to outcompete rivals during pollination. According to research, these flowers use a pollen “slingshot” system to increase the chances of successful pollination. The strategy involves launching their pollen in a burst to displace rival pollen from the beaks of visiting hummingbirds, increasing their reproductive success.

Pollination strategy observed in Brazilian flowers

The flowers exhibit both male and female reproductive stages, switching roles to avoid self-pollination. During their male phase, pollen is produced and stored under petal-covered compartments. When a hummingbird examines the flower for nectar, a trigger mechanism is activated, forcefully launching the stored pollen. This process was studied using hummingbird skulls coated with fluorescent particles to simulate natural conditions, according to a ScienceNewsExplores report.

High-speed images of the experiment showed that the pollen launch removed rival pollen from the simulated beak and replaced it with that of the flower. Researchers found that beaks lost significantly more pollen when entering flowers that were still in the male phase, compared to those that had already released their pollen.

Bruce Anderson, an evolutionary ecologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, told Science News states that this mechanism appears to distribute pollen for two different purposes: reproduction and competitive displacement.

A mechanism of floral competition

Rebecca Burch, an evolutionary biologist at the State University of New York at Oswego, has noted parallels between reproductive competition between plants and animals. In comments from the research team to Science News, she emphasized that plants exhibit dynamic behavior that is often underestimated in ecological studies.

Further research is planned to investigate whether this explosive supply of pollen translates into increased seed production. As reported, these findings contribute to the understanding of how plants develop strategies to improve reproductive success in competitive environments.