Forget flowers: These ancient plants attract pollinators by getting hot

Forget flowers: These ancient plants attract pollinators by getting hot

Nell Greenfieldboyce

December 11, 2025 / 11:30 am

Some of the earliest plants attracted pollinators by producing heat that made these plants glow with infrared light, according to a new set of experiments.

The work, published in the journal Science , suggests that long before brightly colored flowers evolved, these ancient plants would metabolically rev themselves up when they had pollen at the ready. Nocturnal insects such as beetles could then see that heat from afar and home in on the target.

These heat-producing plants, called cycads, exist today in tropical forests around the world, although they're one of the most endangered plant groups.

"Some people call them dinosaur plants because they were much m