by Playfuls Staff |
21st June 2006
Many plants can fertilize themselves, but Chinese biologists have discovered one that takes things a step further by having sexual intercourse with itself. [more]
Laiqiang Huang and colleagues at Beijing's Tsinghua University said the orchid Holcoglossum amesianum, defies gravity to twist the male part of its flower into the necessary shape to fertilize the female one.
The orchard accomplishes that feat without the help of sticky fluids or other methods typically used by self-pollinating plants to ensure that the pollen reaches the egg, making it a newly discovered method of pollination.
The study appears in the journal Nature.
© 2006 UPI
