This cactus flower has anthers covered with white pollen.
One evening this week as I was watering my plants, I noticed a few cactus buds that were almost ready to bloom. I made a note to check back early the next morning, because most cactus blossoms don’t last very long after they open. And sure enough, the next morning the flowers were open and resplendent in the first light of dawn. As I zoomed in with my camera to take a photo, I noticed that the anthers were covered with a dusting of white pollen.
That surprised me; I thought pollen was yellow. And now that I think of it, didn’t I see some wild blackberry blossoms last month in Elsmere Canyon? I went back and checked my photos from that trip. Yes, their anthers were covered in light gray pollen. And what about those wooly blue curls I saw last week? I re-checked the photos. The pollen on those anthers looked reddish brown. Obviously I was mistaken about the yellow pollen; I let my pre-conceptions get in the way of what I was seeing.
So now I’m curious - are different pollen colors less visible to the bee? If it’s reddish brown, it may be less visible,
This wild blackberry was seen at Elsmere Canyon .
because bees don’t see the color red. But how about white or gray pollen? The pollen may be less visible, because bees are attracted to bright colors. But then again, maybe what we see is deceiving. Bees see in UV light, so what looks gray to us may actually look different to the bee in UV light.
So the bottom line is this: I don’t know if pollen color makes a difference to the bee. And I suppose I’m going to have to do some investigating to find out. One of the great things about spending time outdoors is that there’s always something new to discover - even if that discovery is made while watering potted plants on the front porch. Especially if that discovery means truly SEEING what I had, up-till-now, been merely seeing.
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Note the tiny reddish-brown anthers on this Wooly Blue Curl.
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