Sunday, February 5, 2012

Why is the Australian hammer orchid called sexual mimic? Why is the timing of flowering crucial to the plant?

Hammer orchids have specified their method of pollination by only being pollinated by the Thynnid wasp. The female wasps being flightless wait on top of stems for the males, to fly in and carry them off. Then they will mate in mid-flight. Hammer orchids being deceitful mimic the female wasps, their labellum being similar in color and in structure to the female wasp's abdomen. The orchids also produce pheromones very similar to those that the female wasp produces.The female wasp produces the pheromones to attract the male. When the male becomes attracted by the pheromones released by the orchid and its shape, it tries to fly away with the labellum, which makes the stem holding it move backwards. Which in turn brings the male wasp's thorax in contact with the sticky pollen packet. The male wasp will become tired of trying and fly off. In order for the Hammer orchid to be successfully pollinated, the male wasp must be fooled by another individual orchid, where it goes through the same procedure. But this time the pollen is deposited in the stigma, and so that plant has been pollinated. This form of symbiosis is not mutualistic, the wasp getting nothing in return for having pollinated the hammer orchid. This method or being deceitful does not always work for the plants pollination because the male wasp does not always fall for it.

Why is the Australian hammer orchid called sexual mimic? Why is the timing of flowering crucial to the plant?
The AHO (I'll just abbr. it as that) is a sexual mimic because it takes advantage of a wasp's mating ritual to transfer pollen from one flower (or tree) to another.

The timing of the flowering is crucial because when a REAL female wasp is out, the male can tell the difference between the real one and the mimic--therefore, the orchid tries to flower when the male wasp is out but the female isn't.


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