© Laurie Campbell
Scientists studying wild flowers such as the sea campion shown here have discovered that mobile flowers attract more insects and produce more pollen.
Whilst it has been widely know that striking colours, fragrances, petal shape and nectar attract pollinating insects, no connection had previously been made with movement.
Having been inspired by watching flowers on a beach at his daughter's birthday party, John Warren from the University of Aberystwyth began to investigate the theory with colleague Penri James.
An observation of 300 specially grown flowers or varying stem lengths was undertaken, and movement in the wind, frequency and duration of visits by insects and the number of seeds produced were recorded.
As perhaps would be expected, flowers on long thin stalks moved more in the wind and subsequently were more visible, and therefore attractive, to insects. As a consequence they were able to set more seeds. However, there is a catch and a balance must be struck because whilst more mobile flowers do attract more insects, if they are too mobile then the insects cannot land on them. This being the case there exists an ideal compromise between being mobile enough to attract insects, yet stable enough for the insects to land on them.
Sourced from the BBC website, the full article can be found here.