What are the reds poppys adaptions for attracting animals for pollination? Its bright color is one. Does it?

Question

smell good too?? What else?? Anyone have websites?

Answer 1

1.Red poppies, Papaver rhoeas and other poppy species produce lots of pollen ( to feed their visitors ) but no honey or any pleasant scent to attract pollinators. They rely only on their short lived, brilliant color to draw attention.

http://www.mayfairdrugs.com/web_site/nat...

2.Some of the fragrance constituents, like 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, geranyl acetone and benzyl alcohol are present in other floral volatiles of pollen rewarding flowers, eg Papaver rhoeas L.

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:1ybAa...

This seems to contradict the first source, but another site publishes:

"For example, in the plant Papaver rhoeas pollen odors differ from flower odors primarily in the proportions of volatiles produced (Dobson et al., 1996)"

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:5iwm0...

So you can say the red poppy attracts pollinators by lots of scented pollen and bright red petals.