Flowers of the cannon ball tree are without nectar, but bees are rewarded for visiting them with a special kind of pollen. The structure of the male part of the flower (the androecium) is found only in the Brazil nut family. Fertile stamens occur in a ring surrounding the style, but what makes the flower different is the unilateral prolongation from one side of the ring, bearing the staminodes with antherodes that contain pollen that never germinates (in contrast, the pollen of the ring is fertile and does germinate). The pleasant aroma attracts the pollinators to the flowers and the yellow color at the apex of the staminodes directs bees to the sterile pollen, especially female carpenter bees (Xylocopa brasilianorum), that gather the sterile pollen to feed their larvae. While they are collecting sterile pollen, fertile pollen is deposited on their heads and backs, where it is subsequently rubbed onto the stigmas of the next flowers visited, thereby effecting cross-pollination–the first step in the production of seeds.
Flowers of the cannon ball tree are without nectar, but bees are rewarded for visiting them with a special kind of pollen. The structure of the male part of the flower (the androecium) is found only in the Brazil nut family. Fertile stamens occur in a ring surrounding the style, but what makes the flower different is the unilateral prolongation from one side of the ring, bearing the staminodes with antherodes that contain pollen that never germinates (in contrast, the pollen of the ring is fertile and does germinate). The pleasant aroma attracts the pollinators to the flowers and the yellow color at the apex of the staminodes directs bees to the sterile pollen, especially female carpenter bees (Xylocopa brasilianorum), that gather the sterile pollen to feed their larvae. While they are collecting sterile pollen, fertile pollen is deposited on their heads and backs, where it is subsequently rubbed onto the stigmas of the next flowers visited, thereby effecting cross-pollination–the first step in the production of seeds.
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