View article

Naturalists have recognized the importance of pollination for plant reproduction for more than 2500 years (Baker, 1983). However, modem attempts to understand the details of this interaction have faced numerous difficulties. The major complication is that plant reproduction involves a number of sequential and relatively distinct stages, and experimental investigation of all the stages simultaneously is not feasible. Consider for example, reproduction of the herbaceous monocarp (i.e., dies after reproducing) Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregate: Polemoniaceae), found in mountains of Western North America. Reproduction for this self-incompatible plant depends on pollination by broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus platycercus and S. rufus), which probe the red tubular flowers to extract the nectar produced within.