News

Gender-bending flowers spice forests

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Ginger flowers switch their working gender–from female to male or vice versa–in unison around lunchtime.

Two ginger flowers in the morning (top) and afternoon (bottom), with telltale stigma positions (arrows). Flower at left starts functionally male and ends up female. At right, female flower changes to male. Li

This newly discovered synchronized gender swap in nine species of the genus Alpinia reduces the risk of inbreeding, say Qing-Jun Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Mengla and his colleagues.