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Nectar (plant)

 
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Nectar (plant)
 
 
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Nectar is a sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
-rich liquid produced by plants. It is produced either by the flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s, in which it attracts pollinating
Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
 animals or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists
Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
 providing anti-herbivore protection
Plant defense against herbivory

Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance includes a range of adaptations evolved by plants that improve their fitness by reducing the impact of herbivores....
. It is produced in glands called nectaries.

Nectar is an economically important item, the sugar source for honey
Honey

Honey is a sweet fluid produced by honey bees , and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance?this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners...
.






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Nectar
Nectar is a sugar
Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline substances, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Human taste buds interpret its flavor as sweet. Sugar as a basic food carbohydrate primarily comes from sugar cane and from sugar beet, but also appears in fruit, honey, sorghum, sugar maple , and in many other sources....
-rich liquid produced by plants. It is produced either by the flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s, in which it attracts pollinating
Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
 animals or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists
Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
 providing anti-herbivore protection
Plant defense against herbivory

Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance includes a range of adaptations evolved by plants that improve their fitness by reducing the impact of herbivores....
. It is produced in glands called nectaries.

Nectar is an economically important item, the sugar source for honey
Honey

Honey is a sweet fluid produced by honey bees , and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance?this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners...
. It is also useful in agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 and horticulture
Horticulture

'Horticulture' is the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, Crop , plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology....
 because the adult stages of many predatory insects, as well as hummingbird
Hummingbird

Hummingbirds are birds in the family Trochilidae, and are endemic to the Americas. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 15?200 times per second ....
s and butterflies, feed on nectar.

Etymology

Nectar is derived from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 nectar "drink of the gods", which in turn has its origins in the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 word ???ta? (néktar), presumed to be a compound of the elements nek- "death" and -tar "overcoming". The earliest recorded use of its current meaning, "sweet liquid in flowers", is 1609.

Floral nectaries

Floral nectaries are generally located at the base of the perianth, so that pollinators are made to brush the flower's reproductive structures, the anthers and pistil, while accessing the nectar.

Extrafloral nectaries

Nectar produced outside the flower is generally made to attract predatory insects. These predatory insects will eat both the nectar and any plant-eating insects around, thus functioning as 'bodyguards'.Extrafloral nectaries are generally located on the leaf petioles
Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
, mid-rib or leaf margin. They are thought to be modified trichome
Trichome

Trichomes, from the Greek language meaning "growth of hair", are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and certain protists. These are of diverse structure and function....
s and exude nectar from phloem
Phloem

In vascular plants, phloem is the living Biological tissue that carries organic nutrients , particularly sucrose, a sugar, to all parts of the plant where needed....
 sap. Extrafloral nectaries can be found on species belonging to (amongst others) the genera Salix, Prunus
Prunus

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, including the plums, cherry, peaches, apricots and almonds. It is traditionally placed within the rose family Rosaceae as a subfamily, the Prunoideae , but sometimes placed in its own family, the Prunaceae ....
 and Gossypium
Gossypium

Gossypium is a genus of 39-40 species of shrubs in the Malva family, Malvaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of both the Old World and the New World....
. In many carnivorous plant
Carnivorous plant

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods....
s, nectar serves to attract insect prey.

Natural components of nectar

Although its main ingredient is fructose
Fructose

Fructose is a simple Reducing sugar sugar found in many foods and is one of the three important dietary monosaccharides along with glucose and galactose....
 or natural sugar, nectar is a brew of many chemicals. For example, the nicotiana attenuata, a tobacco plant native to the US state of Utah
Utah

The State of Utah is a western United States U.S. state of the United States. It was the List of U.S. states by date of statehood admitted to the United States on January 4, 1896....
, uses several volatile
Volatility

Volatility is the measure of the state of instability.*For volatility in chemistry, see Volatility .*For volatility in finance, see Volatility ....
 aromas to attract pollinating birds and moths. The strongest such aroma is benzyl acetone, but the plant also adds bitter nicotine
Nicotine

Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants which constitutes approximately 0.6?3.0% of dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots, and accumulating in the leaves....
, which is less aromatic and therefore may not be detected by the bird until after taking a drink. Researchers speculate the purpose of this addition is to drive the bird away after only a sip, motivating it to visit other plants to fill its hunger, and therefore maximizing the pollination efficiency gained by the plant for a minimum nectar output. Presence of neurotoxins such as aesculin
Aesculin

Aesculin is a glucoside that naturally occurs in the Horse-chestnut , California Buckeye and in daphnin ....
 are present in some nectars such as the California Buckeye.

Other Uses of the word

Nectar
Nectar (drink)

Nectars are a type of non-carbonated soft drink made with fruit juice.In some countries, the beverage industry distinguishes nectars from drinks labeled as "juice"....
 is a name commonly given to drinks manufactured with fruit juice (e.g. Mango Nectar, Pear Nectar, Peach Nectar).

See also

  • Nectar source
    Nectar source

    A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds....
  • Nectar guide
    Nectar guide

    Nectar guides are patterns seen in some flowers that guide pollinators to the nectar and pollen.These patterns are sometimes visible to humans; for instance, the Dalmatian Linaria has yellow flowers with orange nectar guides....
  • Nectarivore
    Nectarivore

    In zoology, a nectarivore is an animal which eats the sugar-rich nectar produced by flowering plants. Most nectarivores are insects or birds, but there are also nectarivorous mammals, notably several species of bats in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, as well as the Australian Honey Possum , and Geckos in Mauritius....
  • Northern Nectar Sources for Honey Bees


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