Sexual Encounters of the Floral Kind

All living organisms want to be biologically successful. You would think that

flowers would have a great disadvantage for reproduction because they are stationary

organisms, while animals can travel anywhere they want to reproduce with other animals.

Flowers however are extremely biologically successful due to their amazing pollination

strategies. Flowers all over the world pollinate some in more complex ways than others.

The Australian hammer orchid is one of the many unique pollinating flowers. The

Australian hammer orchid relies on the thinned wasp to allow it to pollinate. The male

wasps hatch a few weeks earlier then the female wasps, which is the key to the Australian

hammer orchid's success. The orchid imitates the female wasps, by producing a

pheromone and has the general shape of the female wasp. The young males, just being

born have never seen a female and try...