If you were a bee, what would you see? Thanks to the wonders of macro photography and scientific research, it’s easier than ever to imagine what a bee sees. Here’s a fascinating peek at a pollinator’s world filled with stigmas, stamens, pollen and nectar. We often forget flowers are sex organs after all, decked out with ingenious mechanisms to encourage visitation and ultimately pollination.
The photos above show the “cavernous” centers of two daylilies and an echinacea cone. Imagine being a bee or other pollinator at the edge of a daylily bloom — it must be like peering into a volcano!
Did you know bees see in a shifted color spectrum from humans? This means they can’t see reds, but they do see pinks, oranges and the rest of the visible spectrum as well as into the higher ultraviolet range, beyond human vision. Certain colors and patterns invisible to humans are easily seen by bees. A dandelion that looks solid yellow to us, for example, appears as magenta and white to a bee. Who knew!
It’s not just color differences that are so interesting. Many flowers are much more structurally intricate than we realize.
A high quality camera outfitted for close scrutiny of subjects is a great way to explore a bee’s eye view. (I use a special “macro” lens designed for use with a single lens reflex or SLR camera.) We’re not going to delve too deeply into flower reproduction but a quick overview can help us appreciate their amazing anatomy.
Anatomy of a Flower
A flower’s petals are their most obvious feature. Their chief job is to advertise the flower’s nectar and pollen, attracting the right pollinators at the right time.
Inside the petals, a female structure called the pistil or carpel consists of a stigma (tip), style (tube) and ovary (receptacle). Pistils can be nearly hidden or stick out prominently from the flower’s center.
Anthers and filaments make up the male parts, called stamens. Dangling on slender filaments, anthers release pollen with the slightest touch, even on the wind. Stamens sometimes protrude outside the petals so they are the first thing a bee brushes against. When a pollen-coated bee comes into contact with the stigma the pollen rubs off, travels to the ovary and completes fertilization. The ovary then swells as the seed develops. Eventually the ovary ruptures to release seed.
Ever notice how quickly a blossom deteriorates once it’s been fertilized? The longer it goes unfertilized (or is sterile) the longer it remains fresh. That’s why it’s best to choose blossoms that are just opening for cut arrangements; if they haven’t had a chance to get pollinated, they will last longer in the vase.
This closeup of a peony is a good illustration of a flower’s inner parts. A ring of anthers on string-like filaments surround fat green ovaries tipped with red stigmas.
To increase the chances of fertilization stigmas are often sticky, hairy or both. These traits help pollen adhere.
Sometimes the reproductive parts are fused, incomplete or sterile, particularly in manmade hybrids. Such distortions can make pollination difficult or even impossible, rendering them virtually useless to some pollinators. Some plants evolved so they can only be pollinated by one particular insect. If that plant is exported outside its native range, there may not be a local pollinator able to fertilize it. For instance, short-tongued bees cannot pollinate flowers which evolved exclusively for long-tongued bees; they literally cannot reach the necessary parts.
If you never see bees on certain flowers, any of these scenarios could be the reason. That’s why it’s so important to include some native pollinator-friendly cultivars whenever you can.
Diversity is everywhere
While all flowers have similar structural parts, the forms they take are endlessly diverse. Left to right below are geum, coneflower, hellebore and rose, each with a different reproductive arrangement.
In the case of coneflowers (echinacea), the center cone is really a cluster of microscopic florets which open sequentially, row upon row. That is why coneflowers bloom for so long. It takes days if not weeks, for all of them to open and become pollinated. Some flowers only release nectar at certain times of day, luring bees back again and again. It’s the major reason bees will visit the same flower over and over for days on end. You have to wonder if there’s anything left for them after the first week– but evidently there is!
In addition to fascinating forms, many flowers have amazing textures. Depending on how they evolved, textures act as sunscreen, moisture retention systems or pollen-spreading enablers. They can be hairy, sticky, stinky, sugary or ridged just to name the most common.
As this photo illustrates, Oriental poppy buds are quite hairy (hirsute). Its pollen is purplish-blue, and the petals are as thin as tissue paper. After pollination the petals and stamens quickly fall away, leaving a fattened ovary (seed pod) behind.
Camassia alba’s delicate lime green ovaries and dangling violet anthers look very different from ranuncula Burgundy Wine’s dramatic black stamens.
Below is penstemon Dakota Burgundy in bud. Notice all the tiny hairs! What appears nondescript at a glance can be quite beautiful close up.
A backlit peony glows with translucent beauty; Salvia May Night’s intricate inflorescences are neon purple-blue; a catmint’s lavender florets are actually spotted when viewed close up, with overhead blue anthers perfectly positioned for pollen transfer to a visiting bee’s back.
Other flowers showcased here are single pink peony Sparkling Star, a white speckled digitalis (a bumblebee favorite), dusky cranesbill, white clematis henryii, and lambsear Silver Carpet. Ever notice how only bumblebees rather than honeybees visit foxgloves?
If I were a bee, I think I’d want a sweater made of lambsear wool!
The next time you’re gathering flowers for an arrangement, take a moment to imagine how each must look to a bee. if you don’t have a macro lens or a SLR camera, an inexpensive magnifying glass is a handy substitute. There’s nothing like getting up close and personal to really appreciate nature’s incomparable beauty.
