“Nectar here. Help yourself. It’s free!” That’s what the blue of Bottle Gentian blossoms declares.
But Bottle Gentian is tricky.
Here’s the catch
The flower generously offers a handout but keeps its petals closed.
The five petals are sealed together along their edges, with their tips pressed tight together at the top. And the petals will never open.
Most insects go away hungry, because they cannot get to the nectar.
Except for bumblebees
Bumblebees are bigger than other bees. Stockier than butterflies. Stronger than most other insects. Knowing the nectar is down in there, a bumblebee pushes and shoves and pulls with its front legs at the tip of the blossom.
After struggling for awhile, the bumblebee usually manages to get the tip open and wriggle down inside headfirst. You may see its back feet sticking out at the top.
While the bumblebee feasts, it can’t help picking up some pollen on its body. If the next flower the insect visits happens to be another Bottle Gentian, some pollen will rub off the insect and pollinate the flower.
Why make nectar?
Flowers produce nectar to entice pollinator insects to visit. From the point of view of a flower, the ideal would be for an insect to go straight from one of its blossoms to another of the same species.
But that result can’t be counted on. Insects don’t necessarily confine themselves to one species. And a flower’s resources are limited, because each time an insect visits a flower, it depletes the nectar. Then the flower must replenish it over the next minutes or hours.
The genius strategy
But the Bottle Gentian has found a strategy to conserve its nectar and improve its chances of pollination. By excluding nearly all other insects, it wins the loyalty of bumblebees. A bumblebee who works its way into a Bottle Gentian is probably the first insect to reach the nectar. It gets a big reward.
Having slurped up a generous helping of nectar, the bumblebee backs up out of the blossom and goes looking for its next meal. Since it had such a great experience in the Bottle Gentian, it will probably look for another Bottle Gentian blossom. When it finds one, it’s likely to bring about a successful pollination.
What happens next
Once the Bottle Gentian blossom has been pollinated, the petals turn brownish, like loose old paper bags. If you gently squeeze a brown flower at this stage, you’ll feel the pod inside, in which the seeds are ripening. Eventually the dry petals get a little raggedy and are easy to peel away, so that the pod is visible.
As the seeds ripen, a pod’s tips curl away from one another. The pod splits lengthwise, separating like jaws opening, to reveal tiny, flat seeds. They look like microscopic potato chips.
Each pod may contain hundreds of seeds, which the wind can easily blow to new locations.
And grow new Bottle Gentians.
Wonderful pictures and great information! Many of our modern day medicines can tract their beginning to plants and herbs! Thank you so much for sharing your art with a camera and knowledge! (I love the bumble bees feet sticking out of the flower!)
Diane, these photos are amazing. And thank you for sharing the wisdom of the gentian. :)