Bees, flowers have different kind of romance

As featured June 7, 2012, at www.cnjonline.com

Exploring a patch of thistles, bloom after bloom, the picture was the same.
A big, round bee behind protruded from within each purple head, looking as if the rotund creatures had flown so fast at the flowers, they had crashed and become permanently imbedded face-first.
But of course they weren’t stuck, and, as soon as the sound of footsteps reach their buried heads, they popped out and took to the air, buzzing in irritation.
Some of the most beautiful flowers to be seen in early summer on the eastern plains, thistles might be nice to look at, but in all their prickliness they don’t exactly go out of their way to be approachable.
Or do they...
If recent research is correct, thistles could actually be working overtime to be inviting, though being put into vases isn’t exactly the angle of their ambition.
In fact, not only is it OK if they’re prickly and abrasive, it might be better and certainly explains the bee behinds that seem to appear as soon as they open.
It appears the romance between bees and flowers isn’t defined by color and fragrance quite like it is between humans and petals.
Rather, it’s texture that helps a flower woo a bee and win the pollen, according to a recently published study conducted by scientists at the University of Cambridge.
Presenting bees with petunias whose petals had both smooth and conical cell structure, researchers found that time and time again, bees went to the flowers with the rougher surface.
The reason is quite simple — grip.
Valuable like slip-stop stickers on the bottom of the bathtub, the cone-shaped cell structure of some petals provides bees a near Velcro hold as they make their way to the center of a flower in search of nectar.
And it’s a good thing, because moving flowers are the ones that best attract the 3D eyes of a bee, a point proven in the lab when scientists put flower boxes containing plants on mechanized “shaking” tables to simulate stems swaying in the breeze. Consistently, they documented the bees zooming to the textured plants.
It makes a lot of sense really, since trying to hang on to a slick moving bloom while working would just take far too much energy if there’s another option.
So you may love your fancy snapdragons, but their ups and downs and angles and curves just don’t convey the same message to a bee, especially if there’s a rough-petaled petunia nearby.
Particularly in our neck of the woods, where breezy days bend thin trees to the ground.
Also intriguing is the fact the favored petals with textured cells are generally more subdued in color because they absorb, rather than reflect light.
But that’s alright because fuchsia would probably be wasted on a bee anyway.
While the color scheme of the grasslands may seem drab to the human eye, strong light basically strips bee vision to black and white, so they don’t even get to enjoy the occasional purple thistle in a sea of brown.
Needless to say, while the research doesn’t change a thing for bees and their buds, it does debunk some common misconceptions that the wild flowers of the world have had the inside scoop on for a while — a glowing complexion, alluring smell and smashing hues aren’t always the quickest route to the prize.
But as luck would have it, pragmatic bees aren’t the only game in town, so fair flowers need not despair — the hummingbirds still love them.