Beauty of the night..

..is a direct translation of the italian name (Bella di notte) of Mirabilis Jalapa, but the english common name is either "Marvel of Peru" -because that is where the plant comes from (or well, Mexico where the city of Jalapa is but that's not important is it?), or "4 o'clock flower" as the flowers open in the late afternoon and close in the morning. This plant was imported in Italy as an ornamental plant, and despite its beauty it is quite infesting! The flower has got a very long and narrow neck (is that what it's called?), so it is not accomodating for just any pollinator, in fact the only possible pollinator in Italy is the Hawk moth, with its long proboscis. Therefore I was surprised to see many species of bees buzzing around the plant. Why were they spending time on a plant where it could not reach the nectar? That is when I found out just how clever bees are! Rather than trying uselessly to enter into the narrow neck, they just went straight to the base of each flower's stamen (on the photo I caught two different species in action), probably attracted by the fragrance of the sweet nectar, where they ripped open the flower and drank up! Just as good for the plant that it does self-pollinate when the stamens roll toward the stigma as the flower closes, for it cannot count on the usual pollinators.