the.com/pollinate
the universe's most successful one-night stand, conducted by accident on six legs
means To transfer pollen from one flower to another so that fertilization and seed-making can happen — usually done by insects, birds, or wind.
from From Latin pollen, meaning 'fine flour' or 'fine dust' — the same word ancient Romans used for the powder ground from grain. Botanists borrowed it for the golden dust flowers shed, and the verb 'pollinate' bloomed from it in the 19th century, once science started paying close attention to how plants quietly arrange their reproduction behind everyone's back.
- bee math
- one in three bites of food depends on it
- hum trick
- some flowers only release pollen at specific buzz frequencies
- unpaid labor
- insects do it worth over 200 billion dollars yearly
- dead carriers
- wind and water pollinate without any living messenger
- deceptive blooms
- some orchids mimic female bees to trick males
honeybees and almonds — 1.5 million hives pollinate california's almond crop annually, producing 80% of the world's almonds
fig wasps and figs — blastophaga wasps pollinate ficus carica figs in mediterranean regions, essential for fruit production