Foraging on Lavender. Lasioglossum sp., Sweat Bee, on Gmelin's Statice, Limonium gmelinii, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The tiny wonderfully lavender-colored flowers of Limonium gmelinii are a mere 3-4 mm across. The plant hails from Siberia and adjoining regions in eastern Europe and Turkey. In the Hortus here in Amsterdam it's planted next to Limonium latifolium (signposted to come from Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine). Except for their foliage the plants' flowers look much the same. Our Plant is named specifically for Johan Georg Gmelin (1709-1755), intrepid naturalist traveler to remote Russian regions, victim to disaster in Yakutsk (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/32203165438/in/photoli...). Those delicate little flowers have lots of pollen and nectar and so attract a large variety of insects.
Among those winged denizens of the Garden is this Lasioglossum - I think. Perhaps Calceatum. Do let me know if you know!
Foraging on Lavender. Lasioglossum sp., Sweat Bee, on Gmelin's Statice, Limonium gmelinii, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The tiny wonderfully lavender-colored flowers of Limonium gmelinii are a mere 3-4 mm across. The plant hails from Siberia and adjoining regions in eastern Europe and Turkey. In the Hortus here in Amsterdam it's planted next to Limonium latifolium (signposted to come from Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus and Ukraine). Except for their foliage the plants' flowers look much the same. Our Plant is named specifically for Johan Georg Gmelin (1709-1755), intrepid naturalist traveler to remote Russian regions, victim to disaster in Yakutsk (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/32203165438/in/photoli...). Those delicate little flowers have lots of pollen and nectar and so attract a large variety of insects.
Among those winged denizens of the Garden is this Lasioglossum - I think. Perhaps Calceatum. Do let me know if you know!