London, Dec 19 (IANS) Some flowers have their own way of attracting pollinating insects, with dark spots on their petals that mimic the pollinator, according to research.

'The spots on the flowers mimic the plant's pollinator, a small fly, which is attracted to the plant because of the spots. The plant is dependent on the pollinator for reproductive success, so it is incredibly important that the plant attracts the flies,' a University of Cambridge release quoted researcher Meredith Thomas as saying.

'What we found surprising,' Thomas added, 'was how complex the petal spots are in a few populations, when other populations seem to get by with a very simple spot or even no petal spot at all.'

Dark spots on petals are visible on some plant species like lilies, orchids, and daisies.

Thomas and his associates from England and South Africa studied what these spots were composed of, how they developed and how they only appeared on some but not all of the ray florets. Their findings were published in the American Journal of Botany.

They focused on the South African endemic beetle daisy Gorteria diffusa (Asteraceae), which has a unique and raised dark spot at the base of some of its ray florets.

'I find this plant/pollinator (pollinating agent) system very exciting to study because of the amazing morphological (form or shape of an organism or its part) variation in the flowers between populations,' Thomas said.