The nectar of plants may be more than just nourishment for the linkurl:birds;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/24844/ and linkurl:bees;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/home/52926/ that feed off of them - instead, suggests a study published in this week's issue of __Science__, it may be a complex chemical cocktail that simultaneously attracts and repels linkurl:pollinators;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/38038/ in order to optimize the amount of time they spend at each flower and the attention they pay to flowers on different plants. "This paper shows just how sophisticated a plant can be in using chemistry to get what it wants, which is to outcross," said linkurl:Ian Baldwin;http://www.ice.mpg.de/usrpers/iaba2016/web/main_en.htm from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany, the study's lead author. Baldwin and his colleagues studied a species of tobacco named linkurl:__Nicotiana attenuata__,;http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=NIAT which synthesizes linkurl:benzyl acetone;http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/rw1024231.html to attract the linkurl:hummingbirds;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13890/ and linkurl:hawk moths;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15250/ that spread its pollen and sup on its nectar. That nectar also contains linkurl:nicotine,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/19757/ which ensures that these pollinators don't...

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