Extrafloral Nectaries

[beeno]

Let gardeners be aware! I was weeding and I became aware of bees crawling inside the clumps of new growth of Forget-me-nots. First I thought they may be after water, but the foliage was dry and they were not on the soil. Since I am replanting some of my self-seeded Forget-me-nots in different positions I was interested to know if this was a one off or something I should take note of to avoid an ouch moment. Turns out that the bees were collecting nectar from the plants extrafloral nectaries. Bees do nothing invariably, who said that? If someone has a list of plants with extrafloral nectaries which bees avail themselves of pls post it. Many thanks

 

[gmonag]

Laurel

 

[Curly green finger's]

Willow and vetch I know of, I'm pretty sure some prunus have them.

 

[gmonag]

http://www.extrafloralnectaries.org/

 

[beeno]

http://www.extrafloralnectaries.org/

I cannot find Myosotis arvensis on this list? Is it me or is it as they say not an up to date list??

 

[Nige.Coll]

Beans
Bracken
there is a list somewhere.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard
Centaurea sp. Garden Knapweed
Fraxinus excelsior, Ash
Paeonia sp., Peony
Prunus armeniaca, Apricot
Prunus avium, Wild Cherry
Prunus persica, Nectarine
Pteridium aquilinum, Bracken
Vibernum opulus, Guelder Rose
Vicia sativa, Common Vetch
Vicia sepium, Bush Vetch
Vicia faba, Broad Bean

 

[Murox]

Well its good to learn something everyday ~ I never knew that bracken was a potential source as well.

 

[Repwoc]

How do the plants benefit from extra-floral nectaries? There must be a benefit to the plant, but I can't see what it might be. Unless it's like a fisherman throwing ground bait into a river to attract fish into the vicinity of his baited hook.

 

[Nige.Coll]

How do the plants benefit from extra-floral nectaries? There must be a benefit to the plant, but I can't see what it might be. Unless it's like a fisherman throwing ground bait into a river to attract fish into the vicinity of his baited hook.

It is thought the ants attracted to the nectaries also managed the aphids but no one is sure.

 

[Monbees]

Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard
Centaurea sp. Garden Knapweed
Fraxinus excelsior, Ash
Paeonia sp., Peony
Prunus armeniaca, Apricot
Prunus avium, Wild Cherry
Prunus persica, Nectarine
Pteridium aquilinum, Bracken
Vibernum opulus, Guelder Rose
Vicia sativa, Common Vetch
Vicia sepium, Bush Vetch
Vicia faba, Broad Bean

What do the green dots signify? Do these extrafloral nectaries produce the same nectar as real nectaries, but just less of it, or is it inferior stuff?

 

[Nige.Coll]

Plant

Lasius niger

Myrmica rubra

Myrmica ruginodis

Missed that off the top. sry

 

[Nige.Coll]

Here is the original article I had the picture from.
Talks about ants and the extra floral nectaries.
http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/32/Winnall_Rosemary--Ants_and_Extra-floral_.html

 

[Curly green finger's]

Here is the original article I had the picture from.
Talks about ants and the extra floral nectaries.
http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/32/Winnall_Rosemary--Ants_and_Extra-floral_.html

Thanks for sharing nigel.

 

[Apiarist]

Beans
Bracken
there is a list somewhere.

You mean that when I look out across some green hillside desert I could be looking at bee food? ... without flowers?
Does anyone know if there's been research in trying to calculate how much nectar is produced?

 

[Nige.Coll]

You mean that when I look out across some green hillside desert I could be looking at bee food? ... without flowers?
Does anyone know if there's been research in trying to calculate how much nectar is produced?

I don't know of any research trying to calculate a direct return from Extra floral nectaries but spending 5 minutes looking on google there seems a lot of research into insect interaction with them and a lot more plants with them than I thought. A lot are tropical plants though.

Sugar content of secretions from the EFN of ferns can vary from 10% to 50% depending on weather and area. Well within the range a honeybee would be interested in.

A large proportion of field bean honey is supposed to come from the EFN of the plants and not directly from the flowers.
"Early in the flowering period the majority of honeybees collected pollen, whereas later in the season they chiefly collected nectar from the extrafloral nectaries or from holes bitten in the calyx and corolla tube by B. terrestris (negative visits)."

It is certainly an interesting topic for further investigation.

 

[Margaret Anne Adams]

Let gardeners be aware! I was weeding and I became aware of bees crawling inside the clumps of new growth of Forget-me-nots. First I thought they may be after water, but the foliage was dry and they were not on the soil. Since I am replanting some of my self-seeded Forget-me-nots in different positions I was interested to know if this was a one off or something I should take note of to avoid an ouch moment. Turns out that the bees were collecting nectar from the plants extrafloral nectaries. Bees do nothing invariably, who said that? If someone has a list of plants with extrafloral nectaries which bees avail themselves of pls post it. Many thanks

What the bees were after was honeydew. I have filmed aphids on forget-me-not stems and here are some stills from the video

 

[Erichalfbee]

Amazing really what you can see if you look hard enough and know enough botany. I knew about extra floral nectaries on Laurel but had never heard them mentioned in forget me nots.

 

[Margaret Anne Adams]

Amazing really what you can see if you look hard enough and know enough botany. I knew about extra floral nectaries on Laurel but had never heard them mentioned in forget me no

Dani, you are right, there are no EFNs on forget-me-nots. I was showing Beeno what the bees he found were really after. My photos show aphids sucking phloem sap from the stems. When aphids do that they excrete honeydew that bees collect. I 've also filmed aphids eating pollen and sucking sap from Knapweed flowers.

 

[Margaret Anne Adams]

I cannot find Myosotis arvensis on this list? Is it me or is it as they say not an up to date list??

Beeno, the bees you saw were collecting honeydew excreted by aphids sucking sap on the forget-me-not stems. Here are some stills from a video made