Charles Darwin, and subsequent generations of botanists, have been intrigued by the single red floret that often appears in the middle of the inflorescence of a wild carrot Daucus carota. One hypothesis – that the dark floret acts as a decoy, resembling a fly and attracting further flies to mate with it, thereby improving wild carrot’s chances of pollination - has so far remained unproven, so the conclusion that Darwin came to in 1888* - ‘That the modified central flower is of no functional importance to the plant is almost certain’ still stands. But if you are a naturalist with time to spare, and are prepared to count and statistically analyse the relative numbers of flies on intact infloresceneces and those with the red floret removed, you might still prove him wrong.........
*Darwin, C. (1888) The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species, 3rd edn. John Murray, London, UK.
*Darwin, C. (1888) The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species, 3rd edn. John Murray, London, UK.
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