dutchmans breeches may st bruno DSC 0608

These are called Dutchman’s breeches, a spring flower of the forest floor. The flowers are pollenated by bumble bees. Other insects bite holes in the flowers to get at the pollen and nectar but this doesn’t pollenate them. The seeds are taken by ants to their nests. They eat the outer coating but dispose of the seeds in the nest “garbage dump”. The seeds grow there, safe in the nest and feeding on the ant nest detritus. St Bruno near Montreal.