Gender-bending flowers spice forests
By Susan Milius
Ginger flowers switch their working gender–from female to male or vice versa–in unison around lunchtime.
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This newly discovered synchronized gender swap in nine species of the genus Alpinia reduces the risk of inbreeding, say Qing-Jun Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Mengla and his colleagues. They report their findings in the March 22 Nature.