They're Not in Love

An article on the dangers of losing pollinators uses the headline "Bees and flowers have had the world's longest love affair" (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/14/bees-flowers-danger-pollinate-human-foodstuffs-farming). I realise that this is only a figure of speech that was probably triggered by the date (St Valentine's Day) but it's not remotely a love affair between the insect and the plant. We tend to think of the bees exploiting the flowers by gathering their nectar and pollen. More accurately, however, the flowers exploit the bees, in a 'gig economy' by providing a minimalistic reward (a bit of weak sugar solution) in exchange for facilitating sex for the plants.