Eucrosia eucrosioides

[Alessandro.marinello]

this week in flower, Eucrosia eucrosioides

[Gail]

Amazing flower Alessandro - it looks as though something must have nibbled off the petals.

[mark smyth]

why would it need such long male and female parts?!

[Maggi Young]

why would it need such long male and female parts?!

To attract short sighted pollinators... they can't see it but they bump into it??!!!

[Alessandro.marinello]

  Mark and Maggy
the pollinators of the Eucrosia they are the butterflies, but to single report of hummingbird visitation is recorded for E.eucrosioides, revealed who here attends .....

[Ezeiza]

Mark, the anthers are at the exact distance for the hummingbird to rub its forehead against the pollen while collecting nectar at the tip of its beak.

[Maggi Young]

Wonderful, so there is bumping involved... but for Humming birds..... wonderful.

[arillady]

Maggie you are quick. What are butterfly eyes like for distance I wonder?
Wonderful flowers.

[jshields]

Very curious looking flowers!  I'll go with hummingbird as pollinator, but a very specific sized hummingbird, I'd bet.  Where is Eucrosia eucrosioides native?  Are you getting any seeds, Alessandro?

[Ezeiza]

Jim, the Andes have many species of hummingbirds, some as small as a fly but some are really large birds. We associate them with tropical plants but a good number are montane.

[Lori S.]

Jim, the Andes have many species of hummingbirds, some as small as a fly

Here's the world's smallest bird (and smallest hummer) - 2" long:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/World-039-s-Smallest-Bird-81742.shtml


Just curious... are there immense flies in the Andes?   

[Ezeiza]

We have three species here in the Garden that are 2" long, Lori. Just average for a hummingbird. These are by no means the smaller species.

[Lori S.]

We have three species here in the Garden that are 2" long, Lori. Just average for a hummingbird. These are by no means the smaller species.

I am not quite following what you said... are you saying you have 3 species of flies that are 2" long?  If so, that's impressive! 

If you are referring to hummingbirds, realizing that length varies by method of measurement (e.g. dead specimen, live specimen in normal posture), the average has to be greater than 2" if the smallest known species is 2"... ?  What species of hummers are you referring to as being smaller yet?