In Honor of World Bee Day (May 20th)

This Just In…. Flowers Can Hear and Dance!

According to a study conducted in Israel, some flowering plants can sense when a bee is near them and produce extra nectar in anticipation of the meeting! Professor Lilach Hadany, a researcher at Tel Aviv University, conducted experiments exposing Evening primroses to 5 different sound options: Silence, computer generated noises at 3 different frequencies and the sound of a honey bee at 4 inches away from the plant. With the first 4 options, there was no change in the flower’s nectar. However, within 3 minutes of playing the recorded bee sounds to the Evening primrose the sugar concentration in the nectar increased from between 12% and 17% to 20%. The study has been reproduced indoors and out and in different seasons.

Further research, using a laser virbrometer, found that the flowers vibrate to match the sounds of the bee recordings. Marine Veits, co-author of the study, points out that, “This specific flower is bowl-shaped, so acoustically speaking, it makes sense that this kind of structure would vibrate and increase the vibration within itself.”

(Is it just me, or is that not fabulous!?!?! This little flower, appearing so unassuming just hanging out on the side of the road, when she senses that a bee is coming her way she literally gets sweeter and vibrates to match the bee’s buzzing.)

Professor Hadany theorizes that we owe this gift of symmetry to evolution. Bless her heart.