Quote:
Originally Posted by tony palmer
Hi Gabe,
I believe the main pollinator of Basjoo in the wild could be Bats (nectar feeding Bats) something we don’t have in Europe, not sure about North America!
Even those basjoo in Japan I was told had to be hand pollinated.
Bee’s wasp and hornets rob the flower of its nectar because there tongue isn’t long enough to reach the nectar so contribute little to pollination.
Tony
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Bees actually seem to be quite probable pollinators of Musa as I have seen them many times collect the pollen, and then move on to collect nectar. Bees feed on nectar and pollen. Normally, I see them either entering the top of the compound tepal and collect pollen off of the anthers, or they go to the bottom of the flower and collect nectar from the free tepal when it is easily accessible. Usually there are a few and they are walking all over the flowers and touching everything. Perhaps they are not the most efficient pollinators, but I certainly have seen them show behavior which could easily lead to pollination. In both Hawaii and Uganda, I have noticed frequent seed set in edible cultivars (mostly ABB types) that are grown in germplasm collections alongside wild species, indicating that there must be some non-normal pollinators which easily pollinate Musa. And I have described the case for some naturalized wild species in Hawaii above. I would still like to observe more pollinators in the forest with wild species as I believe there are likely multiple effective pollinators.
I have many good photos of bees on Musa flowers but they have not been organized yet (they are mostly from my most recent travels), but I will try to find some later. Also wasps and some flies visit the flowers often too.