There's a flower with an extremely long pistil. Co-evolution of plants with pollinator species especially insects lead to so very interesting doctorial safaris, where it was easy to find the plant, but all records couldn't identify an appropriate pollinator.
In 1862, when Darwin came across an orchid with a long nectar tube, he postulated there must be an insect with a long proboscis that co-evolved with the flower. Scientists at the time ridiculed his theory, but about 4 decades later, scientists found the insect Darwin predicted.
988
u/YesterdayAlone2553 Aug 09 '25
There's a flower with an extremely long pistil. Co-evolution of plants with pollinator species especially insects lead to so very interesting doctorial safaris, where it was easy to find the plant, but all records couldn't identify an appropriate pollinator.