Jade vine

This endangered plant grows only in the damp riverine rainforests of the Phillipines. The hanging collections of its flowers grow up 90cm long, and their bright colour attracts pollinating bats at twilight. 

The bat hangs upside down and drinks the nectar from the flowers while brushing the top of their heads against the pollen. That pollen is then left on the female part of the next flower the bat visits, and pollination takes place. 

If the pollination is successful, the plant produces fruit that grows up to the size of a melon. At Eden our horticulturists mimic the action of the bat's head with their hands in order to pollinate our jade vine.