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To get someone’s attention, you might shout their name, jump up and down, wave your arms, or even blow a loud whistle. Flowers can’t do any of those things, but they still manage to get animals—even some humans!—to visit them.
They persuade some of those visitors to hang around long enough to get covered in pollen, which those animals then take to other flowers. That helps the plant reproduce.
Flowers use a variety of traps, tricks, and bribes—such as a sugary liquid called nectar—to attract animals to them. Color and fragrance are important, and so are shape, size, landing pads, and other special features. If you’re ever wondering why a flower looks or smells unusual, just ask yourself this: whose attention is it trying to get?
