Wuhan Botanical Garden reveals how lethal Arisaema flowers attract pollinators

by Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences
June 13, 2025

In the Araceae plant family, most male and female flowers are separate, and form special male and female structures called spathes. These flowers mainly attract fungus gnats that pollinate them, but the flowers do not provide food rewards. An exit hole at the base of the male spathes lets pollen-carrying fungus gnats escape after visiting the flower; however, the spathes of the female flowers lack this exit, forming a deadly “kettle trap” for fungus gnats that have pollinated the flower. How this lethal system has been maintained over evolutionary time remains an unsolved mystery.

Keep reading (in Chinese): https://wbg.cas.cn/xwdt/kydt/yjjz/202506/t20250613_7868588.html

Read the Ecology paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70118