Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Nectar plays...
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Nectar plays a crucial role in the foraging economics and evolution of nectar-eating species; for example, nectar foraging behavior is largely responsible for the divergent evolution of the African honey bee, A. m. scutellata and the western honey bee. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. The common use of the word "nectar" to refer to the "sweet liquid in flowers", is first recorded in AD 1600. A nectary or nectarine is floral tissue found in different locations in the flower, and is one of several secretory floral structures, including elaiophores and osmophores, producing nectar, oil and scent respectively. The function of these structures is to attract potential pollinators, which may include insects, including bees and moths, and vertebrates such as hummingbirds and bats. The different types of floral nectaries include; Most members of Lamiaceae have a nectariferous disc which surrounds the ovary base and derived from developing ovarian tissue. In most Brassicaceae the nectary is at the base of the stamen filament. Many monocotyledons have septal nectaries, which are at the unfused margins of the carpels. Exude nectar from small pores on the surface of the gynoecium. Structural nectaries refer to specific areas of tissue that exude nectar, such as the types of floral nectaries previously listed.