Gongora quinquenervis
Home » Floral scent chemistry in the orchid genus Gongora

Floral scent chemistry in the orchid genus Gongora

Gongora quinquenervis
Gongora_quinquenervis. Image: Maarten Sepp / Wikipedia.

Floral scent is a key component of pollinator attraction and its chemistry modulates pollinator behavior and the formation of plant-pollinator networks. Neotropical Gongora orchids exhibit specialized pollinator associations with male euglossine bees, in which male bees visit orchid flowers to collect volatile chemicals that they store in hind-leg pouches to subsequently use during courtship display.

Hence, Gongora floral scent compounds simultaneously serve as signaling molecules and pollinator rewards. Hetherington-Rauth & Ramírez conducted a comparative analysis of floral scent across the genus showing that scent molecules are largely species specific and qualitatively and quantitatively divergent among closely related taxa.

botanyone

The Annals of Botany Office is based at the University of Oxford.

Read this in your language

The Week in Botany

On Monday mornings we send out a newsletter of the links that have been catching the attention of our readers on Twitter and beyond. You can sign up to receive it below.

@BotanyOne on Mastodon

Loading Mastodon feed...

Audio


Archive