Bumble Bee (Bombus sp.) pollinating Bog Bottle Gentian

A video I took on my digital camera (hence the modest clarity)- this is a gentian species endemic to bogs of the southeastern United States. The pollination process is interesting- the flowers develop, but the petals remain tightly closed. This means that the bumble bees (Bombus sp.) that pollinate the flowers have to pry the petals apart in order to get in to the flowers, which have copious amounts of pollen for them to eat. In the process they are unknowingly cross-pollinating the flowers, which ensures good seed-set. The flowers open in late Fall, towards the first frost and are probably one of the last sources of food before the Bumble bees settle in for Winter. Enjoy!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Bog
• bottle
• gentian
• bumble
• bee
• bombus
• pollination

[insectpollinator]

Nicely done; very informative. I will keep an eye on bottle gentians now. I noticed that the first time the bumblebee came out backwards and the second time it had turned around. I have seen them do that at turtlehead flowers. Sometimes it is too hard to go out backwards and they have no choice but to turn around.

Evidently the food supply is very abundant, otherwise they wouldn't take the trouble nor spend so much time inside.

[THEGREENAPPLEKID]

thats was really gay nice cam subscribe i will be making a bee video watch subscribe ill have it by tommorow!!