Like an uncouth lothario, plants have been found to attract pollinating insects with perfume and then kick them out when they’ve had their way with them (AP, Reuters, AFP). Tiny insects called thrips are driven off Australian cycads as the plants heat up their male cones and emit a noxious odour. Later cycads attract the same, pollen-laden thrips back to their female cones with attractive perfumes (Science abstract).

“People think of plants as just sitting there and looking pretty and sending out some odors to attract pollinators, but these cycads have a specific sexual behavior tuned to repel, attract and deceive the thrips that pollinate them,” according to Irene Terry from the University of Utah (press release).

Low-levels of a chemical emitted by the plants – beta-myrcene – are attractive to thrips. To drive them away the cycads ramp up production and raise the heat of their male cones by up to 12°C above their surroundings. “These cycads heat up, and associated with that heating is a huge increase in volatile fragrances emitted by the cone. It takes your breath away. It’s a harsh, overwhelming odor like nothing you ever smelled before,” says Terry.

Image: Thrips trying to enter cone of a male cycad plant before the cone opens / Irene Terry