Open All Night Some flowers attract a crowd by off ering a lot of food. T ey are like all-night diners. In Central America, the sun sets over a


balsa tree forest. Dozens of flowers open. A smell of sweet mushrooms rises into the air. It’s time for dinner. Soon, a parade of animals flies, crawls, and


swings through the treetops. First comes a troop of capuchin monkeys. A monkey grabs the edge of a balsa flower and laps up all the nectar. Its sharp paws tear the edges of the f lower. Full, the monkey moves on. T e flower may be tattered, but it gets a


second serving ready. It refills with a fresh supply of nectar. Next, a kinkajou visits. It, too, drinks from the flower. T e tree keeps making new nectar. By morning, the tree has made nearly a liter of juice. T e parade of animals continues all night


long. Woolly opossums, bats, katydids all visit the flowers. Snakes and praying mantises come by, too. T ey don’t drink nectar. T ey eat pollinators. By dawn, many of these visitors have carried pollen from flower to flower.


FUN FACTS


• Beetles pollinate 88% of all flowering plants.


• A hawk moth’s proboscis is longer than its body.


• Lemurs are the largest known pollinators.


• One nectar bat has a tongue so long that it curls inside its ribcage.


22 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


Setting a Trap To survive rough paws and claws, many night f lowers have big, strong petals. T at way, animals don’t rip them to shreds. An Amazon water lily uses its strong petals


in a diff erent way. T is giant, white flower is sturdy and flat. It’s strong enough to hold up big beetles—and trap them! When the lily opens, the sweet smell of


pineapple rises. Heat rises, too. T e heat and smell attracts beetles. As they burrow into the f lower, the flower’s petals slowly close around them. T ere’s no way out of the flower. T e beetles are trapped. T e next night, the flower reopens. T e


beetles crawl out, gooey and coated in pollen. T e flower turns pink and loses its scent. It doesn’t need to attract beetles any more. T e beetles find another lily, taking the pollen with them.


Flower Mystery Scientists are still finding new night flowers. An odd orchid is the latest discovery. It grows deep in a rain forest. T e scientists had a hard time studying this


orchid. T ey expected it to bloom during the day. T at’s what other orchids do. Instead, this orchid’s flower withered and


died during the day. At first, they thought the orchid had a disease. One scientist brought a f lower home to study it more closely. At 10 p.m. one night, he noticed that the plant looked diff erent. A flower was opening. T at solved one mystery. T is flower still


puzzles scientists, though. T ey don’t know how it attracts pollinators. It doesn’t have a strong smell. T ey also don’t know what kind of animal pollinates the orchid at night. T ey think it may attract tiny flies called midges. T e flies may think the orchid is a good place to lay their eggs. T e night may hide more flower mysteries.


One thing is likely, though. As long as these plants and animals keep helping one another, they may be around for a long time.


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