On Sat, 7 Aug 2004 22:03:14 +0100, Kay
wrote:

And to confirm it, I spent a few minutes this morning nipping off the
end of the spur on a few nasturtiums, squeezing out a drop of liquid and
tasting its sweetness ;-)

Some plants, which have floral 'spurs' hold the nectar within the
walls of the spur initially and young flowers may not appear to have
free nectar. Bees, butterflies and moths probe all long spurred
flowers to find out which have nectar and as a result, effect
pollination as they brush past the anthers and receptive parts of the
flower. Some plants fool insects by going to the trouble of producing
a spur, but failing to make the effort of making nectar. Canny things
plants and not all as honest as you might think! A 2 day old
Tropaeolum flower (Nasturtium) however, will have plenty of free
nectar as Kay has found out.