Tiny pool protects flower buds

Rare flower structures—tiny cups that keep flower buds submerged in their own water baths—can protect the blooms from marauding moths, say researchers.

MINI MOAT. The yellow-green cup of water at bottom protects a flower bud. The calyx at top has already yielded a flower. Carlson

One species with these cups, Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana, grows along riverbanks in Central and South America, says Jane E.