That's interesting, never seen bees on horsetail in Southern Oregon. I have seen bees once in the last 10 years working extra floral nectaries on bracken ferns (Pteridium sp). It seems like the newly emerging fiddlenecks

-Travis
www.easybeesco.com<http://www.easybeesco.com>
www.amateuranthecologist.com<http://www.amateuranthecologist.com>
________________________________
From: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Peter Armitage <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 3:18:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [BEE-L] Equisetum arvense - hb forage

We’re having a cool spring here in Newfoundland with two inches of snow on the ground a couple of days ago.  My hbs have little to forage on and certainly no nectar bearing flower species.  The pollen staples at the moment are  primarily pussy willow and coltsfoot. Alder catkins are long finished. The red and mountain maple flowers are almost in blossom, and we are about two weeks away from dandelion.

But here’s a new spring forage species to add to my list – Equisetum arvense (common horsetail).  My hbs were foraging on this plant in large numbers yesterday with ambient temperatures of 12-13 deg. C, sunshine and little wind (see appended photo).  The sexual organs of this species are separate, subterranean structures, and as a lower plant, it has no flowers, and hence no stamens and pollen.  However, it has photosynthetic spores, and this is what the hbs were packing onto their corbiculae (a greenish-blue colour).


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