Floral mimicry: a fascinating yet poorly understood phenomenon

Flowers of different species that resemble each other are not necessarily mimics. For mimicry to be occurring, the similarity must be adaptive. Unfortunately, no case of floral mimicry has ever been fully verified and it is important that we move beyond these perceived similarities to testing whether they are truly adaptive. Here we explain the differences between Batesian and Mullerian floral mimicry, illustrate what should be done to test mimicry hypotheses, and discuss how interspecific pollen transfer influences the evolution of mimicry.