Meanings
- uncountablebiologyA type of mimicry exhibited by some plants, whereby certain flower parts resemble a (female) potential mate for a male of a pollinator species, thus inducing pseudocopulation.
2017, Wiley Blevins, Ninja Plants, Lerner Publishing Group (Twenty-First Century Books), page 52, The plant world is full of mimics. In Pouyannian mimicry, a flower mimics a female insect to attract the right male pollinator.
Origin
Coined 1982 by Georges Pasteur, after Maurice-Alexandre Pouyanne, who described the behaviour in orchids in a 1916 paper.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Pouyannian mimicry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pouyannian%20mimicry
“Pouyannian mimicry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pouyannian%20mimicry. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pouyannian mimicry,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pouyannian%20mimicry.
Source: Pouyannian mimicry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.