Plant biology: the flower of seduction.

Hundreds of orchid species lure their pollinators with the promise of sex, only to send them away unfulfilled. Heidi Ledford looks at how dishonesty gives them the evolutionary edge. Hundreds of orchid species use deception in order to get pollinated. The plants lure insects with a cocktail of odours that hints at sex, but only the orchids reproduce during the exchange. Heidi Ledford delves into the evolutionary intricacies of the relationship between bees and orchids, and asks, what's in it for the bee?