A University of Utah study found that certain primitive cycad plants in Australia heat themselves up and emit odors to drive pollen-covered thrips out of male cycad cones, where the thrips eat pollen.

Most modern gymnosperms—conifers and gingkoes, for instance—rely on the wind to spread their pollen. For some gymnosperms called cycads, insects serve as their pollen shuttle service, and did so long ...

Cycads were one of the first plants to be pollinated by insects, with beetles transferring pollen from the slender male cones on one plant to the female cones on another plant. Conifers and ginkgoes ...

Cycads are the oldest surviving plant groups ... The male cones produce pollen, which is carried by insects (weevils) to the female cones. This ancient method of reproduction has remained largely ...

Because cycads are so ancient, they produce cones rather than flowers for reproduction. The male plant’s cone is cylindrical and produces pollen that fertilises the shorter, rounder female cones.