Boronia pollination mystery

Boronia (Rutaceae: Sapindales) have closed flowers that thwart most insect visitors. It has been a mystery to many botanists just how these flowers are pollinated. A team of researchers (including some ESQ members!) have recently published a paper describing a group of heliozelid moths that are indeed the mystery pollinators of this strange group of flowers from the south of Western Australia. The unusual flowers are pollinated by a group of 15 moth species - each moth pollinating a specific Boronia species. 

Read the article in the Conversation by lead author, Doug Hilton. If you want to read it all, find the original article here.

Photo: Heliozelid moth on Boronia. [Photo credit: Davina Paterson]