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,
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