Last week while walking The Mountains In The Sea, I came across a sexual exhibition with an intriguing sub-plot.

It was a hot sultry day on the tip of The Cape Peninsula and there was a Mountain Pride butterfly Aeropetes Tulbaghia feeding on the red flowers of The Mountain Pipes - Tritoniopsis triticea.

Many flowers employ the services of various other creatures to ensure that their sperm and eggs meet one another. In this case the Mountain Pipes Flower exploits the Mountain Pride Butterfly as a sexual courier, but the butterfly must have some incentive to do this. As in many species the flower motivates the butterfly by rewarding it with nectar. In fact the butterfly is simply seeking the nectar and becomes the unwitting transferor of pollen from one flower to the next.

The Mountain Pride Butterfly is irresistibly attracted to the colour red and for this reason most red flowers appear when this Butterfly is present in our summer. Don’t feel left-out as a human - even in the plant world there are some that rely on deception for their intimate relationships! The Cluster Disa (Disa ferruginea) is a beautiful red orchid, which often grows in the same area as The Mountain Pipes and by no coincidence flowers at the same time.

The Cluster Disa however does not expend any energy on producing nectar. Instead, it relies on the similarity in appearance of its flowers to those of the Mountain Pipes flowers. This similarity is sufficient to deceive the Mountain Pride Butterfly to visit the flowers of The Cluster Disa in search of nectar and in so doing it collects and delivers pollen for this species. Crafty!!