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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Pouyannian mimicry en · NOUN

Etymology

Coined 1982 by Georges Pasteur, after Maurice-Alexandre Pouyanne, who described the behaviour in orchids in a 1916 paper.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) A type of mimicry exhibited by some plants, whereby certain flower parts resemble a (female) potential mate for a male of a pollinator species, thus inducing pseudocopulation.
    • 2017, Wiley Blevins, Ninja Plants, Lerner Publishing Group (Twenty-First Century Books), page 52, The plant world is full of mimics. In Pouyannian mimicry, a flower mimics a female insect to attract the right male pollinator.