Scaled image p11.webp

Ferocactus peninsulae     9/9/21
Another wonder of Ferocactus. The brown things are the remains of earlier flowers, going back to June. The real reason I include this picture is for the little bee that you can see just to the right of the stigma among the stamens. Note the little flash of yellow below the bee. This is the pollen adhering to her back legs. In case you're one of the people worried about the death of our agricultural bees, please let me remind you that the European honeybee is introduced. Yes, so are the crops that it pollinates, but most bees are rather promiscuous in their search for nectar and pollen. Gotta eat; gotta reproduce! Without the immense (relatively speaking) honeybees as competitors, the 5,000 native bees in the New World can probably handle the necessary pollination duties. I kind of welcome the possible re-establishment of native bees. Let the European invaders die, says this European (Poland) invader.   (11/32)   

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