Stinky Aroids

arnold140@verizon.net arnold140@verizon.net
Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:56:42 PDT
Judy:

The beauty of it is that the carrion beetles get nothing and the plants get pollinated.

Arnold


Jun 15, 2011 01:12:19 PM, pbs@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

My Stinky Aroids 
 - 
Dracunculus vulgaris and Sauromatum venosum - are in flower. They 
announce this event with a stench that makes me think there's a dead 
woodchuck somewhere around here. I've seen carrion beetles on the 
Dracunculus. However neighborhood dogs - who would otherwise find the 
most odoriferous, rotting dead deer in which to roll - ignore both plants.

Is there some subtle chemical marker that a dog's superior olfactory 
powers finds lacking?

I was discussing this with a friend and she wondered what the carrion 
beetles get out of this. False advertising, I suspect, and the beetles 
get nothing.

Any comments, observations?

Judy in New Jersey with delightful summer weather today - and more rain 
on the way.




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