Pollinator Week Is Coming!

What is Pollination, anyway? And why does plant sex involve a Ménage à trois?
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Andreas/Flickr

In 2006, the U.S. Senate created a National Pollinator Week to “recognize the importance of pollinators to ecosystem health and agriculture in the United States.” Each year since then, recognition of National Pollinator Week has grown, with many states and local groups planning educational events.  Check for events near you on this map!

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I’ve discovered a lot of people don’t actually know what pollination is, other than it’s something needed to get fruit. That’s certainly true; apples, bananas, blueberries, melons, peaches, pumpkins, almonds, and a whole bunch of other plants need to be pollinated for us to get the food we like.

That’s the what of pollination. But the WHY seems to be left out. Plants need lovin’ too, and the options for them to get their freak on are somewhat limited. It’s tough to “throw a leg over” when you don’t actually have any legs.

Pollination = sex for plants.

Sure, you can toss your pollen out on the wind and hope it lands in the right place.  And for a lot of plants, evergreens in particular, this works just fine. Most spring days my car looks like there was a pine tree bukakke fest.

That method results in a lot of wasted gametes (plant sperm) though, so for nearly all flowering plants, insects or other pollinators are needed for plant nookie. Think of bees and other pollinators as little flying plant wangs.

Most flowers contain both male and female sexual parts, and while plants can self-pollinate, it’s more enjoyable productive to have a second (or third… or fourth…) party involved. Cross-pollination also reduces inbreeding.

Plants attract insect pollinators with lovely colorful displays, special smells, and gifts of nectar or extra pollen that makes a nice snack. And in return plants receive a sexual courier service. This partnership has been going on for over 100 million years, and has resulted in amazing modifications in both plants and animals.

from the archivesParts of this post first appeared in June 2013 at my personal blog. Without pollinators, some of the finest things in life would not exist:

Chocolate. Coffee. Tequila.

All brought to you by a bug-facilitated bonk.

Why not establish a horizontal hula zone in your backyard? And don’t forget to give your sweetheart a bouquet of plant genitals.

More posts about pollination:

Homepage Image: Natalie Sayin/Flickr