Monday 30 November 2020

Lizards Pollinate South Africa’s Hidden Flower


Image courtesy of R Cozien and S Johnson, fair use doctrine.

 

Joel Kontinen 


Three years ago, PhD candidate Ruth Cozien and her husband Dr Timo van der Niet were attending a citizen science workshop high up in South Africa’s Drakensberg mountains when they stumbled across “this weird plant with green flowers hidden beneath its leaves, a really strong scent and enough nectar to drown an insect”, Cozien recalls. Its called Guthriea capensis. 

Together they persuaded Dr Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen at the University of the Free State’s department of plant sciences and Prof Steven Johnson of the Centre for Functional Biodiversity at KwaZulu-Natal. 

They went on an animal – plant discovery, They found that a the Drakensberg crag lizard (Pseudocordylus subviridis) pollinated the flower.

They also found that that after a few weeks there were 95% fewer fruits on the plants not visited by lizards.

Yes, it seems that God has a way of getting lizards to fertilize the flower.

Source:

Dall, Nick, 2020, , Is It A Bird? Is It A Bee? No, It's A Lizard Pollinating South Africa's 'Hidden Flower'The Guardian  25 November,