In this episode – Flowering – looks at the different strategies plants use to reproduce. To fertilise, some plants are reliant on wind to distribute their pollen. However, most plants summon mammals, (even reptiles), birds and most efficiently (and economically) insects. Sometimes these couriers are given payment (nectar or scent), sexual deception (orchids) or even imprisonment (dead horse arum). A relation of the dead horse arum, the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) – the world’s largest inflorescence – gives off smell of bad fish to attract sweet bees.
The titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum)