Some helleborines (Epipactis spp.) produce a narcotic nectar that makes pollinating wasps sluggish. This may prolong the time they spend on the flowers, bringing about greater levels of pollination.
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That’s fascinating! I had no idea about that. Does this include any of the British-occurring Epipactis?
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To my knowledge yes – I believe it’s most of the EU species, but I’m not an expert on this particular group. Amazing pollination system isn’t it!
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Fabulous stuff, thanks for setting me off on a new line of enquiry Chris – I’ve been looking into it and it seems the main research was into E.helleborine, which produces a really potent cocktail of narcotic compounds, particularly the semi-synthetic morphinan oxycodone.
There’s reference too to E.purpurata having narcotic qualities – but given the unassuming visual nature of Epipactis as a whole I bet most of them are up to this as an aid to pollination. Orchids – marvellous beasties, aren’t they!
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Good stuff Jon, thanks for sharing!
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And finally… in a day for learning about the smelly chemical subterfuges terrestrial orchids are getting up to – it turns out that at least one of the Plananthera group is busily imitating the smell of human body odour to attract mosquitoes to pollinate it: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/orchids-give-human-body-odor-attract-mosquitoes
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