A flower’s female sex organs can speed up fertilisation
They can also stop it from happening
ANY biologically aware parent who has started talking about the birds and the bees will have realised halfway through that what they are really discussing is flowers. Bees carry pollen grains from one plant to another, enabling fertilisation; birds digest and excrete the resulting seeds, allowing new blooms to grow.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Blooming wonderful”
From the June 22nd 2024 edition
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