Alfalfa pollination <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination> is somewhat problematic, however, because Western honey bees <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_honey_bee>, the most commonly used pollinator, are not suitable for this purpose; the pollen-carrying keel <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petal> of the alfalfa flower trips and strikes pollinating bees on the head, which helps transfer the pollen <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollen> to the foraging bee <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee>. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfalfa#Alfalfa_and_bees On 1/15/13 2:51 AM, Kevin Gibbs wrote: >> Alfalfa is not a favorite of the honeybees as the flower has to be > "tripped" prior to sucking the nectar out. > > Grant what do you mean by "tripped"? > *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm