Glossary
The mutualistic symbiotic relationship between bees and flowering plants, where flowers provide nectar and pollen as food rewards while bees transfer pollen between flowers for reproduction. This co-evolutionary partnership spans over 100 million years and is responsible for the reproduction of approximately 75 percent of flowering plant species.
Flowers have evolved an extraordinary array of strategies to attract bee pollinators: bright colors (bees see ultraviolet patterns invisible to humans), sweet fragrances, nectar guides (lines on petals that direct bees to the nectar source), and specific bloom times that reduce competition with other plant species.
In return, bees get the two resources essential for colony survival: nectar (converted to honey for energy) and pollen (the colony's protein source for brood rearing). A single honey bee can visit 50 to 1,000 flowers on a single foraging trip, inadvertently transferring pollen between plants at each stop.
Approximately one-third of the food you eat depends directly or indirectly on bee pollination. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds that require insect pollination include almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers, pumpkins, sunflowers, and hundreds of other crops.
When you buy raw honey, you are supporting the beekeepers who manage the colonies that make this pollination possible. Every jar of honey represents millions of flower visits that simultaneously produced both the honey in the jar and the pollination that keeps food systems functioning.
No. Of the approximately 20,000 known bee species, only a handful produce and store honey in quantities that humans can harvest. Honey bees (Apis species) are the primary honey producers. Most bee species are solitary and do not make honey, though they are still important pollinators.
Bees can see ultraviolet light but cannot see red. They are most attracted to blue, purple, violet, white, and yellow flowers. Many flowers have ultraviolet patterns called nectar guides that are invisible to humans but clearly visible to bees, directing them to the nectar source.
Honey bees typically forage within a 2-mile radius of the hive but can fly up to 5 miles when necessary. The majority of productive foraging happens within 1 to 2 miles, as longer flights consume more energy and reduce the net caloric gain from the nectar collected.
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