Images – various flowers (left: Geranium magnificum; middle: Gerbera hybrida; right: Clematis armandii) showing a composite of immediately before and after application of charged powder paint. The pattern of powder deposition reveals the shape of the electric field. Images by Dominic Clarke and Daniel Robert

Floral Signs Go Electric

Press Release Source: Bristol University

Flowers’ methods of communicating are at least as sophisticated as any devised by an advertising agency, according to a new study, in Science Express by researchers from the University of Bristol. However, for any advert to be successful, it has to reach, and be perceived by, its target audience. The research shows for the first time that pollinators such as bumblebees are able to find and distinguish electric signals given out by flowers.