>Hello:
>
>A friend of mine hosts a call-in gardening radio show in Edmonton.  Two of her
>callers recently spoke of finding dead or "drunk" honey bees in the vicinity of
>BULL THISTLES.  They believed that the thistle caused their condition.
>
>The bull thistle is the one with the large (2" to 3") flower heads.  The Latin
>name is either Cirsium drummondii or C. vulgare.  One caller had dead bees, the
>other caller had drunk bees.  The radio host asked me for an explanation!?????
>
>Has anyone out there seen or heard of this effect?   Better yet, does anyone
>have some reasonable theories on what might have caused these effects.  I know
>that bees frequently work thistles (especially Canada thisle) without any ill
>effect.
>
>... Joan                                   ([log in to unmask])
Hi Joan,
Bumbles get into trouble under some species of lime. Tilia Sp
The problem is with nectars which are high in the sugar Mannose. Bumbles
cannot digest this, they don't have the right enzymes, wheras honeybees
can. I've never heard of trouble with Thistles either, perhaps the thistles
were under or near Tillia petiolaris, T. tomentosa, T. orbicularis. These
are the main ones to cause trouble in the UK.
 
Yours
Ian.>
 
[log in to unmask]  - Northern Regional Bee Inspector -  Bee Curious