Deceit Pollination in the Monoecious, Neotropical Herb Begonia oaxacana (Begoniaceae)

Abstract

Where flowers pollinated by an animal vector lack rewards, pollination occurs by “mistake” (Baker, 1976), and the attraction of pollinators to the rewardless flowers is by deceit (Willson and Agren, 1989). Deceit pollination was first described by Christian Konrad Sprengel 200 years ago, following his observations of insect visitation to rewardless orchid flowers (Chapter 12) that resembled nectar-bearing flowers. This mode of pollination differs from the more typical system in which flowers attract pollinating animals by providing them with food resources such as nectar or pollen (Proctor and Yeo, 1973; Faegri and van der Pijl, 1979), nest-building materials (Chapter 9), or chemicals used in acquiring mates (Kimsey, 1980; Williams, 1983; Schemske and Lande, 1984).