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down in my wanderings and it may be a woodland flower as some are heading b I checked with a bee-keeper. He suggested Japanese Knotweed as the source of the white pollen. - Burkhard On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 5:41 PM, Ian <ian@amimckay.com> wrote: > Thank you all for your quick and helpful replies. I will go for hike > tomorrow and see if a wet area that was sadly clearcut this winter may have > Turtleheads. It does seem the most likely culprit at present. If I find > them, and the bees, I will let you know. > > Sent from my iPod > > On 2014-09-02, at 14:00, Rick Ballard <ideaphore@gmail.com> wrote: > > Here is a quote from the web mentioning that the Turtlehead flower does > deposit its pollen on the back of a bee. > > "Bumblebees collect both nectar and pollen, but there would be little > advantage to the plants to have pollen collected and fed to the bee's > larvae, so the turtlehead has found a way to protect its pollen. The > anthers, which hold the pollen, and the stigma, which receives it, are > hidden under the upper lip of the flower. The bee can only enter the flower > by forcing its head and body into the mouth of the flower while holding on > to the flowers' lower lip. It cannot reach the anthers with its front legs > in that position, they are behind it, so the bee cannot collect the pollen. > The bee can drink the nectar from the base of the flower, though. As it > forces its way down into the flower, the anthers rub against its velvety > back and the pollen grains are caught. If the flower has already shed its > pollen, the anthers pull back and the stigma becomes receptive. If the next > foraging bee has some pollen on its back, the pollen sticks onto the stigma > and begins to germinate." > > > On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 1:37 PM, Rick Ballard <ideaphore@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 12:21 PM, Ian McKay <ian@amimckay.com> wrote: >>> >>> We keep a few hives here in Scots Bay. Over the past week or so the bees >>> have been returning with a very WHITE POLLEN. They are covered in it with a >>> pronounced streak down their backs. This leads me to think that they are >>> crawling into a tubular blossom of some sort. I haven't been able to track >>> it down in my wanderings and it may be a woodland flower as some are heading >>> back into the woods. Any ideas as to what it could be, blooming Late >>> August/Early Sept? >> >> >> Turtleheads ! Certainly in bloom now. >> >> " This unique flower shape has evolved to suit the plant's pollinators, >> primarily large bees. The lower "lip" of the flower acts as a landing pad >> for the bees, while the upper hood of the flower not only guards the nectar >> from unsuitable pollinators, but also helps deliver pollen to the bees' >> fuzzy bodies as they push apart the petals in search of nectar. " >> >> >> >> -- >> Rick Ballard >> Dartmouth,Nova Scotia, Canada > > > > > -- > Rick Ballard > Dartmouth,Nova Scotia, Canada
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