The Were-plant by the light of the moon!

 A rather unremarkable and scruffy looking plant studied by two scientists has been dubbed the were-plant after it was discovered that it only pollinates during the light of the full moon in June.  A study Moonlight pollination in the gymnosperm Ephedra (Gnetales) undertaken by Catarina Rydin , Kristina Bolinder, Published, 1 April, 2015, looked at how Ephedra (Gnetales) reproduced and in doing so made a remarkable discovery. The study is the result of four seasons of field studies so far which show a surprise relationship between pollination of one of the study species of plants with the lunar cycle in one of the species that they were studying. This work looks at how the discovery was made and what problems the researchers see for the future of the plant.

 

Ephedra foeminea - Author: Gideon Pisanty (Gidip) - 

- CC BY 3.0

Cycles of the moon

The cycles of the moon are are used by a many animals for a number of reasons such as navigation and communication.  Now researchers have discovered the first known case of a plant that times its reproduction to the cycles of the moon. The plant is a rather modest shrub found in areas around the Mediterranean and is known as Ephedra foeminea though since the discovery of its connection to the moon it has been nick-named the were-plant. This is because the plant is a non-flowering relative of conifers and instead of flowers produces masses of red and yellow cones which during the full moon in July secretes sugary fluid to attract the nocturnal insects which pollinate it.  Read more