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Pollination
A rose is a scented, petalled advertisement to bees. It’s a 40-million-year-old flower with classical structure. It‘s the genetic laboratory for the production of rose seed.
An Andrena bee collects pollen among the numerous stamens of a rose. The flower's sticky stigmas are grouped together as a rough and globular structure to the left. The bee's stash of pollen is on its hind leg.
Source: Wikipedia
With the help of bees and other insects a rose flower exists to set seeds. Bees transport pollen from the stamens of one flower to the stigma of another. Once pollinated the flower wilts and the rosehip swells as the seeds within slowly ripen.
Unlike many flowers the rose does not produce any nectar, instead offering only pollen as a reward to its pollinators. Its sweet scent acts to lure them close, while the colour and shape of the petals guide them to the reproductive parts at the heart of the flower. |
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The Hoverfly
Bees, including bumblebees, are the most common insect visitors to roses. But hoverflies, like the drone fly and bulb fly, can also often be found buzzing among rose petals as they gather the flower’s pollen. Some of these hoverflies not only share a fondness for roses but have also evolved to mimic the look of bees, an evolutionary trick to protect them from predators wary of a bee’s sting. |
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