Rebecca Rosen pleaded as the hawk refused to budge from a hotel balcony to retrieve a chunk of mouse meat off the gloved arm of a guest at the five-star Rosewood Sand Hill resort in Silicon Valley.

Their shape, colour and scent, as well as their nocturnal opening, clearly indicate that the snake gourd’s flowers are moth-pollinated. Graceful and delicate, yet highly ephemeral, the little beauty ...