Native Flowers Cheat Pollinators Out of Rewards

What if these delicate beauties are really deceitful posers?

Stopping for a moment to notice the local flowers always makes me smile, even though I know that they are not really showing off for my benefit. The shapes and colors and fragrances of flowers are mostly meant to attract insects and birds that can transfer pollen from one flower to another, thereby enabling the plants to gain the advantages of cross-pollination. The evolutionary deal is supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship, with the pollinators getting food in exchange for reproductive services. However, nothing is ever so simple.

Recently I reported on some of the birds and bees that get food from flowers for free by poking holes directly into the nectar sacs, without going inside the flowers and providing pollination services in exchange.

Now I am getting some feedback from pollinators about the cheating behaviors of the flowers themselves. The biggest complaint is that some flowers look good, and smell sweet, but don’t have any nectar inside.