Biotic Pollination
<p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">More commonly, pollination involves <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator" title="Pollinator" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">pollinators</a> (also called pollen vectors): organisms that carry or move the pollen grains from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamen" title="Stamen" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">anther</a> of one flower to the receptive part of the carpel or pistil (stigma) of another.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-crop_Type_16-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-crop_Type-16" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 16;"></a></span> Between 100,000 and 200,000 species of animal act as pollinators of the world's 250,000 species of flowering plant.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-Abrol_17-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-Abrol-17" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 17;"></a></span> The majority of these pollinators are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect" title="Insect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">insects</a>, but about 1,500 species of birds and mammals visit flowers and may transfer pollen between them. Besides birds and bats which are the most frequent visitors, these include monkeys, lemurs, squirrels, rodents and possums.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-Abrol_17-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-Abrol-17" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 17;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophily" title="Entomophily" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Entomophily</a>, pollination by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect" title="Insect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">insects</a>, often occurs on plants that have developed colored petals and a strong <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floral_scent" title="Floral scent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">scent</a> to attract insects such as, bees, wasps and occasionally ants (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera" title="Hymenoptera" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Hymenoptera</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle" title="Beetle" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">beetles</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleoptera" title="Coleoptera" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Coleoptera</a>), moths and butterflies (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidoptera" title="Lepidoptera" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Lepidoptera</a>), and flies (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diptera" title="Diptera" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Diptera</a>). The existence of insect pollination dates back to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur" title="Dinosaur" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">dinosaur</a> era.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-scie_Firs_18-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-scie_Firs-18" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 18;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoophily" title="Zoophily" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">zoophily</a>, pollination is performed by vertebrates such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird" title="Bird" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">birds</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat" title="Bat" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">bats</a>, particularly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird" title="Hummingbird" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">hummingbirds</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbird" title="Sunbird" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">sunbirds</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiderhunter" title="Spiderhunter" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">spiderhunters</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeyeater" title="Honeyeater" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">honeyeaters</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_bat" title="Fruit bat" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">fruit bats</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithophily" title="Ornithophily" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Ornithophily</a> or bird pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by birds. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropterophily" title="Chiropterophily" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Chiropterophily</a> or bat pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by bats. Plants adapted to use bats or moths as pollinators typically have white petals, strong <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floral_scent" title="Floral scent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">scent</a> and flower at night, whereas plants that use birds as pollinators tend to produce copious nectar and have red petals.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-19" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-19" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 19;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Insect pollinators such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee" title="Honey bee" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">honey bees</a> (<i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Apis</i> spp.),<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-20" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-20" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 20;"></a></span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee" title="Bumblebee" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">bumblebees</a> (<i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Bombus</i> spp.),<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-21" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-21" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 21;"></a></span><span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-22" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-22" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 22;"></a></span> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly" title="Butterfly" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">butterflies</a> (e.g., <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Thymelicus flavus</i>)<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-23" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-23" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 23;"></a></span> have been observed to engage in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_constancy" title="Flower constancy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">flower constancy</a>, which means they are more likely to transfer pollen to other conspecific plants.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-24" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-24" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 24;"></a></span><span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-25" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-25" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 25;"></a></span> This can be beneficial for the pollinators, as flower constancy prevents the loss of pollen during interspecific flights and pollinators from clogging stigmas with pollen of other flower species. It also improves the probability that the pollinator will find productive flowers easily accessible and recognisable by familiar clues.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-26" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-26" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 26;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Some flowers have specialized mechanisms to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination_trap" title="Pollination trap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">trap pollinators</a> to increase effectiveness.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-:Potts1995_27-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-:Potts1995-27" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 27;"></a></span> Other flowers will attract pollinators by odor. For example, bee species such as <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euglossa_cordata" title="Euglossa cordata" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Euglossa cordata</a></i> are attracted to orchids this way, and it has been suggested that the bees will become intoxicated during these visits to the orchid flowers, which last up to 90 minutes.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-28" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-28" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 28;"></a></span> However, in general, plants that rely on pollen vectors tend to be adapted to their particular type of vector, for example day-pollinated species tend to be brightly coloured, but if they are pollinated largely by birds or specialist mammals, they tend to be larger and have larger nectar rewards than species that are strictly insect-pollinated. They also tend to spread their rewards over longer periods, having long flowering seasons; their specialist pollinators would be likely to starve if the pollination season were too short.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-:Potts1995_27-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-:Potts1995-27" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 27;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">As for the types of pollinators, reptile pollinators are known, but they form a minority in most ecological situations. They are most frequent and most ecologically significant in island systems, where insect and sometimes also bird populations may be unstable and less species-rich. Adaptation to a lack of animal food and of predation pressure, might therefore favour reptiles becoming more herbivorous and more inclined to feed on pollen and nectar.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-OJMVA_29-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-OJMVA-29" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 29;"></a></span> Most species of lizards in the families that seem to be significant in pollination seem to carry pollen only incidentally, especially the larger species such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varanidae" title="Varanidae" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Varanidae</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguanidae" title="Iguanidae" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Iguanidae</a>, but especially several species of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gekkonidae" title="Gekkonidae" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Gekkonidae</a> are active pollinators, and so is at least one species of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacertidae" title="Lacertidae" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Lacertidae</a>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podarcis_lilfordi" title="Podarcis lilfordi" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Podarcis lilfordi</a></i>, which pollinates various species, but in particular is the major pollinator of <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_dendroides" title="Euphorbia dendroides" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Euphorbia dendroides</a></i> on various Mediterranean islands.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-GAH_30-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-GAH-30" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 30;"></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">Mammals are not generally thought of as pollinators, but some rodents, bats and marsupials are significant pollinators and some even specialise in such activities. In South Africa certain species of <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protea" title="Protea" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Protea</a></i> (in particular <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Protea humiflora</i>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">P. amplexicaulis</i>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">P. subulifolia</i>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">P. decurrens</i> and <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">P. cordata</i>) are adapted to pollination by rodents (particularly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Spiny_Mouse" title="Cape Spiny Mouse" class="mw-redirect" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">Cape Spiny Mouse</a>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Acomys subspinosus</i>)<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-31" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-31" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 31;"></a></span> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_shrew" title="Elephant shrew" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">elephant shrews</a> (<i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Elephantulus</i> species).<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-32" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-32" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 32;"></a></span> The flowers are borne near the ground, are yeasty smelling, not colourful, and sunbirds reject the nectar with its high <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylose" title="Xylose" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">xylose</a> content. The mice apparently can digest the xylose and they eat large quantities of the pollen.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-33" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-33" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 33;"></a></span> In Australia pollination by flying, gliding and earthbound mammals has been demonstrated.<span class="mw-ref" id="cite_ref-34" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: super; unicode-bidi: embed;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/#cite_note-34" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); counter-reset: mw-Ref 34;"></a></span> Examples of pollen vectors include many species of wasps, that transport pollen of many plant species, being potential or even efficient pollinators</p>