¿Quién se ha llevado mi néctar?

Abstract

The orchid family exhibits an enormous diversity of flowers with a variety of shapes, colors, and fragrances. However, many of them do not offer rewards to their pollinators, as other families of flowering plants do. Instead, orchids present attraction mechanisms that deceive their pollinators, simulating nectar or food, mimicking female insects, or emitting deceptive aromas. These mechanisms may not seem very honest, but this is how orchids achieve effective pollination without expending extra energy on the production of other compounds.