Floral nectaries Ī nectary or nectarine is floral tissue found in different locations in the flower and is one of several secretory floral structures, including elaiophores and osmophores, producing nectar, oil and scent respectively. The common use of the word 'nectar' to refer to the 'sweet liquid in flowers', is first recorded in AD 1600. Some derive the word from νε- or νη- 'not' plus κτα- or κτεν- 'kill', meaning 'unkillable', thus 'immortal'. Nectar is derived from Greek νεκταρ, the fabled drink of eternal life. In turn, these wasps then hunt agricultural pest insects as food for their young. the social wasp species Apoica flavissima) rely on nectar as a primary food source. For example, a number of parasitoid wasps (e.g. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. Nectar plays a crucial role in the foraging economics and evolution of nectar-eating species for example, nectar foraging behavior is largely responsible for the divergent evolution of the African honey bee, A.

Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and bats. Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide herbivore protection. Nectar of camellia Orange-yellow nectaries and greenish nectar in buckwheat flowers An Australian painted lady feeding on a flower's nectar Gymnadenia conopsea flowers with nectar-filled spur For other uses, see Nectar (disambiguation).

Nectar flower anatomy