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Pontederia cordata, Pickerelweed, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman

Detailed Description

Ah, such an interesting plant for bees. Pontedaria cordata....Pickerelweed. Lives out in fairly deep water, emerges in the spring...sends up a spike of blue flowers in mid-summer. This plant is very attractive to long-tongued bees which have to reach way down to get nectar and pollen. They also have to have hooked hairs on the tips of their tongues to wrangle the pollen out. There are 3 bees that only feed their young pollen from this plant...very specialized they are. Pictures and specimens from Helen Lowe Metzman, Howard County, Maryland Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200 USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.

Sources/Usage

Public Domain.