Love is in the air

摘要

The natural world as we know it wouldn’t exist without pollination. We delve into the cool science of plant sex.PLANTS, IN ALL their charismatic forms, are most famous - and most celebrated - for their flowers. Eight in ten species have them, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Cowslips and honeysuckles are equipped with trumpet-like, tubular flowers, while thistles have punky, purple flowerheads made up of lots of tiny blooms. There are miniature, corn-on-the-cob eelgrass flowers, water-lily flowers the size of your fist, and orchid flowers that mimic insects.