Finding its Way. Lassioglossum sp., Furrow Bee, on Eucryphia lucida, Leatherwood, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This pretty Furrow Bee has no trouble finding its way on Leatherwood even though that plant hails from Oceania, very far from the Hortus. Eucryphia lucida once went by the name Carpodontos which it had received from Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (1755-1834). Labillardière was part of the French expedition sent out to find the lost fleet of 'La Pérouse'. That fleet - which had sailed from Botany Bay into the Blue Unknown in 1788 - was not found. But Labillardière did have the opportunity to 'naturalise' in many places where he made landfall. I've mentioned him often in these pages, e.g. www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/30785668153/in/photoli.... In early 1793 he botanised in Tasmania, not far from Rocky Bay where in late January or early February he came upon our Leatherwood in the shade of a mighty Eucalyptus. In his journal he writes that it 'fasoit l'ornement de ces endroits solitaires'. Indeed, it's an ornament in our own Hortus as well.
Finding its Way. Lassioglossum sp., Furrow Bee, on Eucryphia lucida, Leatherwood, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This pretty Furrow Bee has no trouble finding its way on Leatherwood even though that plant hails from Oceania, very far from the Hortus. Eucryphia lucida once went by the name Carpodontos which it had received from Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (1755-1834). Labillardière was part of the French expedition sent out to find the lost fleet of 'La Pérouse'. That fleet - which had sailed from Botany Bay into the Blue Unknown in 1788 - was not found. But Labillardière did have the opportunity to 'naturalise' in many places where he made landfall. I've mentioned him often in these pages, e.g. www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/30785668153/in/photoli.... In early 1793 he botanised in Tasmania, not far from Rocky Bay where in late January or early February he came upon our Leatherwood in the shade of a mighty Eucalyptus. In his journal he writes that it 'fasoit l'ornement de ces endroits solitaires'. Indeed, it's an ornament in our own Hortus as well.