About Babiana ringens (L.) Ker Gawl.
Babiana ringens, commonly called the rat's tail, is a flowering plant species endemic to the Cape Province of South Africa. It is a perennial plant that grows in nutrient-poor sandy soil and produces flowers during the winter rains. This species has long, erect foliage, with an inflorescence structured around a sterile main stalk that is adapted for ornithophily, meaning pollination by birds. Bright red, tubular flowers grow on side branches close to the ground. The sterile main stalk functions as a perch for birds, allowing them to land within easy reach of the plant's flowers. Rudolf Marloth was the first person to notice this unique stalk adaptation. The primary pollinator of Babiana ringens is the malachite sunbird, Nectarinia famosa. Male malachite sunbirds are twice as likely to perch on the plant's stalk as female sunbirds, and on average spend four times longer perching than females. The stalk plays a clear role in successful pollination: plants that lack their stalk produce only half as many seeds and experience less cross-pollination than plants with an intact stalk. When sunbirds access flowers from the stalk, pollen is deposited onto the birds' breasts. Birds can also sit on the ground to access flowers on plants that lack a stalk. It has been proposed that selection pressure from grazing herbivores drove the evolution of this species' bare main stalk and the placement of its flowers at the plant's base.
