Plantwatch: the Natal crocus co-opts fire, bees and ants to reproduce | Plants

Plants are excellent at enticing animals to pollinate their flowers or carry away their seeds. But a plant co-opts an astonishing combination of fire, bees and ants to organize its reproduction.

The South African Natal crocus, Apodolirion buchananiihas a beautifully bright white flower that emerges from the ground before its leaves appear in early spring. But the flower doesn’t bloom until shortly after a fire naturally breaks out in its native meadows, leaving it standing like a beacon among the blackened grass to help attract pollinating bees, with a sweet, irresistible scent wafting through the air.

Once the flower is pollinated, the developing fruits remain underground for six months until maturity, protected until the seeds are ripe and ready for dispersal by ants.

But the biggest surprise was the discovery that the seeds attract ants by tricking them with a scent that mimics ant larvae. The ants are tricked into collecting the seeds into thinking they are saving their own offspring, carrying the seeds back to their nest where they deal with them. Presumably the ants are somewhat shocked when the “larvae” eventually germinate into seedlings.