Morph - means shape
-ology - means to study
Being a naturalist is all about learning natural patterns, and discovering how ecological puzzle pieces fit together. Flowers tightly coevolve with their primary pollinators. They produce nectar, fragrance, and pigments in hopes of attracting animals that will carry pollen from one flower to the next.
The benefit for the plant is reproducing & genetic diversity, and the benefit for the pollinator is food. Producing these attractants however, comes at an energetic cost to the plant that it could otherwise use to grow, repair, or make other chemicals or tissues. Plants use certain exclusionary practices, like making nectar too far to reach without a long tongue, or pollen too hard to get unless you have the right skills.
Curious about who might be visiting a flower? Read below.
This pattern is closely associated with hummingbirds. The long shape of the flower matches the hummingbirds beak & tongue and the red (or bright orange) color attracts it.
Flowers will also often be "pendant" or dangling, as hummingbirds can hover while feeding and do not need a perch to sit on.
Flowers that attract birds will often not have a strong fragrance because birds cannot smell.
If flowers have a strong floral smell, like night blooming jasmine, and are open after dark, they are likely pollinated by moths.
The white color is due to flower pigments being energetically expensive for a plant to make. If the pollinators are visiting at night, these pigments would be a waste of energy in the dark.
Some nocturnal plants are pollinated by bats, and are often a bit larger in size. Some cactus blooms are even textured and shaped to be detected using echolocation.
Many bees use landing pads on a bloom to support their body while pollinating. Orchids are a good example of having a landing pad and an opening for a bee to crawl into.
Butterflies and diurnal moths (active during the day) may also visit flowers that can be landed on and that form clusters (CA buckwheats and milkweeds are a good example).
Bee attracting flowers often have pigments and patterns visible in the UV or ultraviolet spectrum, but these are not visible to human eyes.
If the flowers look "urn shaped" with petals fused into a round urn or lantern shape, they likely are hiding poricidal anthers inside. Blueberry & manzanita flowers are both good examples of this flower type (& are in the Ericaceae family).
Poricidal anthers are also common in Solanaceae (nightshade family) that includes peppers, tobacco, and morning glory.
These are pollinated by bumble bees and bees that can do "buzz pollination." Poricidal anthers have pollen hidden in a tube like apparatus that needs vibrations to be knocked out and harvested. This prevents other insects (like European honeybees) from collecting the pollen.
Home gardeners often mimic buzz pollination with an electric toothbrush to help pollinate food plants.
Foul-smelling flowers are often trying to attract flies, beetles, and other insects and animals that would also be attracted to rotting flesh or decaying material.