Tipularia discolor, a woodland orchid, flowers in mid‐summer when reproductive activity is minimal within the herb synusia. Tipularia is insect‐pollinated, and artificial crosses showed that seeds are produced after self‐pollination, intra‐inflorescence pollination, and outcrossing. The single nocturnal pollinator, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Noctuidae), located Tipularia populations within a day or two of anthesis. Pollinators were shown to be capable of utilizing portions of the inflorescences that contained the most nectar. After total nectar resources declined, pollinators were no longer active on the inflorescences, even though flowers and nectar were still available. The mode of pollinator activity seems to be closely related to floral morphology, although the moths are able, early in the flowering phenophase, to successfully obtain nectar without effecting any change in the reproductive status of flowers.

No abstract