Day 177: Colour in flowers often provides some visual cue to pollinators, whether as an attractor or as a signpost en route to the reproductive structures. Hummingbirds are famously drawn to blossoms in the red and blue hues (wild currant, delphiniuims) and other plants (Violas, for example) may exhibit fine, dark lines known as "bee guides" on their petals. Blossoms which are zoned like Gazanias could even be likened to a bull's-eye target. That being the case, what strategy governs Fritillaria meleagris (here a commercial cultivar) that it's gone tartan? This one truly puzzles me! As I discovered when sniffing a wild one, this member of the lily family has one of the most unpleasant smells I have ever experienced, rather like a bordello after a busy night. I don't know if the odor has been bred out of the domesticated cultivars; I'm not willing to get that close, not even for the sake of science.
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