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Sweet Search. Wasp on White Beeblossom, Muiderstraat, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Now that it's Autumn, there are no more wasp larvae. Those larvae provide adults sweetness through their sugary excretions. So adult wasps go hungry and thus they forage for nectar (also in lemonade glasses on your terrace). In the photo a wasp is digging deeply into a White Beeblossom, Oenothera lindheimeri.

'Lindheimeri' is for Ferdinand Lindheimer (1801-1879) who fled German for the USA after the failed Frankfurter Putsch (1833) in which liberals sought to force government reforms. Lindheimer became a voracious botanist with many friends and is styled 'the father of Texan Botany'. He was also an avid beekeeper and imported Italian Black Bees to help failing orchards along the Guadalupe River in Texas.

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Uploaded on September 18, 2024
Taken on September 18, 2024