When a hummingbird or a hawk moth sups on the sweet nectar of a wild tobacco plant, they're not just getting a tasty meal in exchange for their services in spreading the plant's pollen. Instead, a new study shows that the nectar
may be a complex chemical cocktail that simultaneously attracts and repels pollinators in order to optimize the amount of time they spend at each flower, and the attention they pay to flowers on different plants. "This paper shows just how sophisticated a plant can be in using chemistry to get what it wants," [The Scientist]
says lead researcher Ian Baldwin. The researchers had already analyzed the chemical composition of tobacco plants' nectar; they found that the compound benzyl acetone is the primary attractant, and that the plants "spike" their nectar with nicotine, presumably as a poisonous deterrent to insects. But in a clever experiment, the research team created ...
