National Pollinator Week

Pollinators are responsible for one third of the food we eat. Most fruits and vegetables have to be pollinated so that they can produce seeds. Also coffee, tea and chocolate need the services of pollinators.

Inkberry pollination

Different flowers have different strategies for pollination. It is interesting to observe them and try to elucidate the interaction between flower and insect in the case of insect pollinated flowers. The small tree or shrub, inkberry (Ilex glabra), a relative of hollies, has numerous small flowers that attract a large number and variety of insects.


The name refers to the inky dark berries

I have observed insects of at least twenty five species visiting its flowers, among them: bees and bumblebees, several kinds of wasps, flies, butterflies and moths and also some beetles. Here are a few examples:

Flowers schedule

Some flowers are strongly influenced by the light and open or shut accordingly, others stay on schedule regardless of how cloudy and dark it is. This seems to be the case with bloodroot, Sanguinaria. These two pictures of the same clump of flowers were taken two hours apart, at 7:30 and 9:30 AM EST on a very cloudy day.

Hummingbird Moth

Don't let this little beauty fool you. It is not a tiny hummingbird, but a hawk moth. Not surprisingly it is called hummingbird moth. It is one of the few moths that are active during the day. It pollinates long throated flowers like this Monarda.