<i>Nicotiana attenuata</i> and Hummingbirds (IMAGE)

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

<i>Nicotiana attenuata</i> and Hummingbirds

Caption

Wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata), native in North America, is flowering during the nighttime and attracts night-active moths as pollinators by emitting the attractant benzyl acetone. However, as soon as female moths start laying their eggs on the plant and the young caterpillars become a serious danger, the plant postpones the opening time of the flowers by 12 hours to dawn and additionally stops producing benzyl acetone. Moths stay away and hummingbirds take over pollination.

Credit

Danny Kessler, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany

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