Floral reorientation: the restoration of pollination accuracy after accidents

Summary Plants sometimes suffer mechanical injury. The nonlethal collapse of a flowering stalk, for example, can greatly reduce plant fitness if it leads to ‘incorrect’ floral orientation and thus reduced visitation or poor pollination. When floral orientation is important for accurate pollination, as has been suggested for bilaterally symmetrical flowers, we predict that such flowers should have developmental and/or behavioural mechanisms for...