Bizarre, Exciting, and Fascinating Discovery.
A FIRST FOR
DR SANDY STEENHUISEN AND THE 'HIDDEN FLOWER' PLANT
NEW SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY BY TEAM FROM THE UNIVERSITIES OF THE FREE STATE & KWAZULU-NATAL: DRAKENSBERG CRAG LIZARD POLLINATES 'HIDDEN FLOWER' - A FIRST FOR
The worlds of science and botany have been electrified by the discovery that flowers high up in the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site in
This first for continental
This research finding on lizard pollination which reads like a fairy tale with its mountain islands, hidden flowers, nectar and little dragons, shows that there are still many unknown and surprising interactions that need to be discovered and conserved to ensure a healthy ecological system.
A Drakensberg Crag Lizard under the 'Hidden Flower' plant
'Hidden Flower', true to its name, is a plant species with flowers hidden at ground level, underneath the leaves of the plant. Like the leaves, the flowers are also green. With the flowers filled with nectar (up to 2 ml per plant) and strongly scented, one concludes that, just as with other flowers, these flowers must be visited by a pollinator. The question asked by academics was, is it a bee, a bird, perhaps a mouse or non-flying mammal?
According to
The 'Hidden Flower' initially had the group of researchers thinking that it was being pollinated by a non-flying mammal. "Everything about the plant made it look like it should be mammal-pollinated,"
The researchers investigated all options, using several techniques to assess the contribution of different possible animals to set seed. To further assist them in their quest to find the true pollinator, the team put up motion cameras that recorded activity in the area of the 'Hidden Flower'.
Studying the video material after a week of fieldwork in the mountains, the researchers were surprised to find the shy lizards dipping their snouts in the 'Hidden Flower' and lapping up the nectar.
To make 100% sure that lizards are pollinating the 'Hidden Flower', these animals were excluded from the plants. Results published in a paper in Ecology showed that when the lizards were experimentally excluded from the plants, the number of seeds produced dropped dramatically by almost 95%. This finding helped to further prove their discovery.
Strong scent and bright orange colour attract
The team researched the new phenomenon and found that although flower visitation by lizards is not unknown, it occurs almost exclusively on oceanic islands. Ruth Cozien says one should keep in mind that mountains are like sky islands and might therefore have similarities with oceanic islands in terms of their ecology.
The strong scent and the touch of orange at the base of the inside of the flowers is believed to play an important role in attracting lizards. The little lizard may recognise the spots of orange inside the flowers which resemble the orange colour of a male lizard in mating season, attracting females. Lured by the strong scent and the orange spots, the reptiles stick their snouts into the flower in search of nectar, pollinating the 'Hidden Flower'; thus, making sure that this flower will continue to grow on the slopes of Sentinel Peak in the Maloti Drakensberg range.
The research findings of this study were published in
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Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site https://www.portfoliocollection.com/visit/maloti-drakensberg-world-heritage-site
Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) https://www.ufs.ac.za/research/research-at-the-ufs-home/aru---afromontane-research-unit/general
Ruth Cozien https://pollinationresearch.wordpress.com/ruth-cozien/
Dr
Video
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Video caption:
The team of researchers put up motion cameras to record activity in the area of the 'Hidden Flower'. On camera, they caught the Drakensberg Crag Lizard visiting the flowers of the 'Hidden Flower'.
Video clip: Supplied
Video caption (provided via WeTransfer):
Dr
Video clip:
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