Food for Bees. Bombus lucorum, White-tailed Bumblebee, on Purple Tansy, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Shaffy's Tuin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
If you've looked at Phacelia for a while you'll understand why in The Netherlands it's called Bijenvoer, Bee-food. Our pretty Lacy Flower attracts bees of many kinds by its pollen but especially its nectar. It derives originally from the North-American West but has become naturalised in Europe from the end of the nineteenth century. It was one of the plants introduced to Britain by that intrepid naturalist and explorer David Douglas (1799-1834), who came to such a nasty end on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/5557704063/in/photolis...).
Here in Shaffy's Tuin Phacelia is being visited by a White-tailed Bumblebee. That Bee is hard to distinguish from the Buff-tail, Terrestris. But the Lemon banding suggests to me Lucorum; Terrestris's is much more orange.
Food for Bees. Bombus lucorum, White-tailed Bumblebee, on Purple Tansy, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Shaffy's Tuin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
If you've looked at Phacelia for a while you'll understand why in The Netherlands it's called Bijenvoer, Bee-food. Our pretty Lacy Flower attracts bees of many kinds by its pollen but especially its nectar. It derives originally from the North-American West but has become naturalised in Europe from the end of the nineteenth century. It was one of the plants introduced to Britain by that intrepid naturalist and explorer David Douglas (1799-1834), who came to such a nasty end on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/5557704063/in/photolis...).
Here in Shaffy's Tuin Phacelia is being visited by a White-tailed Bumblebee. That Bee is hard to distinguish from the Buff-tail, Terrestris. But the Lemon banding suggests to me Lucorum; Terrestris's is much more orange.