23
Aug
What pollinates flowers that smell like chocolate?
This week I took a group of climate-change academics from Japan on a tour. We stopped at the Harold Porter Nature Reserve where we found this large Bietou (Chrysanthemoides monolifera).
The B
ietou is a tough beautiful pioneering species from the daisy family. It’s genus name refers to the fact that it looks like a chrysanthemum and the species name refers to the fact that its berry-like fruits are arranged like a necklace. The common name, bietou is the original Khoi name but it is also sometimes referred to as the tick bush because of its plump black fruits.
Strangely (and delightfully) the flowers smell like chocolate.