Becoming a Beekeeper - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 8

produced by a plant's flower. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating more than 100
agricultural crops in the United States, including fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes, and
sixteen types of flowers species.
Honeybees make at least twelve foraging trips in a single day, visiting several thou-
sand flowers. Tempted by brilliant colors and pleasing scents of nectar, the honeybees
are rewarded with pollen. The process of pollination begins with the tiny grains of pol-
len produced by the male reproductive part of a flower, which is called the anther .
When this pollen is moved to the female part of a flower, called its stigma , pollina-
tion occurs. These pollen granules are transferred as they stick to the hairy bodies of
worker bees during their visits to each plant. Although there are many ways pollen can
betransferred—butterflies, bumblebees,moths,hummingbirds,bats,andeventhewind
can move pollen—honeybees are among the most efficient pollinators because their
hairy bodies attract pollen and distribute it while they are foraging.
Afterpollination,themalepollenuniteswiththefemaleegginsidetheplant'sovary.
There it grows, or germinates; this final step of the process is called fertilization. Once
fertilization takes place in the ovary, the flower expires and drops its petals from the
stem, and a fruit and a seed are produced. The seeds spread, and new flowers grow.
Some species of plants can be fertilized by pollen from flowers on the same plant or
from a similar cultivar of the same species. Although these self-pollinated plants can
provide their own pollen, they still need bees to transfer the pollen to another flower
on the same plant. Other species of plants require pollen from a different cultivar for
fertilization, and this process is called cross-pollination . Many of these flowers have
maleandfemaleparts,butnaturewillnotallowtheseplantstofertilizethemselveswith
their own pollen. Cross-pollination is only possible when both plants are in bloom at
the same time.