MEXICO Researchers at the University of Stockholm have discovered a new plant that relies on lunar cycle for its survival through pollination.
Dubbed Ephedra foeminiea, the plant acts as a sort of wereplant, transforming itself into a fertile mass of bright red and yellow cones. This species of plants is a non-flowering relative of conifers and according to researchers, secretes globules of sugary liquid on nights when there is a full moon in a bid to attract nocturnal pollinating insects.
Basically, the plant relies on moonlight to cause reflections which catch the attention of the insects.
University of Stockholm researchers only learned this by chance, however.
“After a useless week in Greece without any pollinators to observe, we were in a really bad mood and decided not to go to the field sites that night but to go to dinner instead,” said Dr Catarina Rydin.
“All of a sudden we experienced a eureka moment, perhaps from seeing the moon on photos from a previous year, and contrasting it with the darkness we’d experienced so far at the field site.”
Found on cliffs, ravines, and bare rocks from Italy to Yemen, Ephedra is a gymnosperm, meaning, like pine trees, it houses its reproductive structures within cones. Some varieties depend on wind to spread its pollen around, but others form pollen drops to attract flies and moths.
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