Abstract
Where flowers pollinated by an animal vector lack rewards, pollination occurs by “mistake” (Baker, 1976), and the attraction of pollinators to the rewardless flowers is by deceit (Willson and Ågren, 1989). Deceit pollination was first described by Christian Konrad Sprengel 200 years ago, following his observations of insect visitation to rewardless orchid flowers (Chapter 12) that resembled nectar-bearing flowers. This mode of pollination differs from the more typical system in which flowers attract pollinating animals by providing them with food resources such as nectar or pollen (Proctor and Yeo, 1973; Faegri and van der Pijl, 1979), nest-building materials (Chapter 9), or chemicals used in acquiring mates (Kimsey, 1980; Williams, 1983; Schemske and Lande, 1984).
And there at last, I finally discovered that these flowers are fertilized by certain flies which, deceived by their appearance, assume there is nectar in the funnel and therefore crawl into it.
—C.K. Sprengel (1793)
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© 1996 Chapman & Hall
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Schemske, D.W., Ågren, J., Corff, J.L. (1996). Deceit Pollination in the Monoecious, Neotropical Herb Begonia oaxacana (Begoniaceae). In: Lloyd, D.G., Barrett, S.C.H. (eds) Floral Biology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1165-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1165-2_11
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