 |
Partridge Pea
Chamaecrista fasciculate
|
In my extensive research of plants for this blog (web surfing), I learn so much. It turns out that some species of bees will only collect pollen from certain plants. They are so specialized to a species or genus of plant that no other will do. This is called oligolecty and the bee species that do this are called oligoleges. The oligoleges of Partridge Pea are Anthophora walshii and Svastra atripes atripes. Now you know something new!
It turns out that researchers are not completely certain why some bees are so specialized , although it probably has something to do with amino acid composition in the pollen.
 |
| The flowers are quite striking and do well in a native plant garden |
 |
| Whole plant |
Interesting. Does the word apply only to bees, or also to butterflies, as in monarchs who only feed on milkweed?
ReplyDeleteDeb,
ReplyDeleteIt's only bees! I suppose there's another word for butterflies. I'll have to look it up.
Paul