Pollinators:
Stephen and I watched as many Apis mellifera visited
Darlingtonia flowers. But clearly, this bee cannot be considered an element of the plant's normal
pollination. European honeybees have only been in North America for a few hundred years.
Furthermore, even these observations do not establish if the bees are really pollinating the Darlingtonia. It
is not apparent that the bees deposit pollen on the stigmatic surfaces when they enter the flower. They might simply
move directly up to the anthers, and avoid the stigmatic surfaces entirely.
One thing is certain, though. The presence of non-native pollinators at the site will enormously complicate any attempts
at figuring out what native pollinators may be present.
