>While I am pleased about the early natural pollen, are my bees helping
this invasive plant spread in my area?

I think you already know the answer to that question.  On California's
Santa Cruz Island, the honey bees needed to be eliminated to control
invasive European weedy species.

>Taste or odor or texture must have something major to do with making some
pollens very attractive and others not attractive at all.

All one need do is to observe the preference for certain odors is run some
preference tests with cups of pollen or pollen sub ingredients on a warm
day.  It's amazing how the bees will drop one ingredient like a hot potato
as soon as a more olfactory attractive substance is put out, even if they
were actively foraging on the first one for days prior.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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