Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes – a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.
Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes – a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.
The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms.
Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes.
In research published in Science Advances, Cambridge scientists combined developmental biology, evolutionary biology and computational modelling to shed light on this mystery.
Read more at University of Cambridge
Image: Venice Mallow, also called Flower-of-an-hour, (Hibiscus trionum) was selected by Edwige Moyroud as a new model plant for studying petal pattern development. Native to Australia, H. trionum also now occurs in gardens and has become naturalised in some parts of the world. (Credit: Lucie Riglet and Edwige Moyroud)
