Pollinium

The pollinium (plural pollinia pollinia or Latin ) is a mostly sticky pollen mass as it is formed in particular from the stamens of orchids and silk plants to flowering plants. The pollinium enables effective dissemination by insects, in which the pollen packets of the most intensively smelling flowers stick to defined areas of the body and thus be transported to the next blossom. Some orchids, such as Catasetum species, have a special spin mechanism where by sitting on a kind of lever in bloom bees a centrifugal movement (explosion mechanisms ) is triggered in bloom, in which the pollinia are stuck to the bee.