Britannica
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How do bees carry pollen between flowers?
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pollination
Common carder bumblebee (Bombus pascuorum) pollinating a honeysuckle (Lonicera species) flower.
Bees facilitate pollination by collecting pollen while visiting flowers to feed on nectar. Their bodies are often hairy, and they possess specialized physical adaptations that ensure pollen adheres to them, as the grains are frequently sticky, spiny, or highly sculptured.1
To collect and transport this pollen, bees use their legs to brush it from flowers and from their own bodies. The collected pollen is then moved to specific pollen-bearing organs for transport during flight. These structures vary by species:2
- Scopa: Many bees use a scopa, which consists of masses of long hairs located on the hind legs or the underside of the abdomen.2
- Pollen Baskets: In social bees, such as honeybees and bumblebees, the scopa is specialized into a pollen basket (corbicula) on the outer sides of the hind tibiae.2
- Internal Transport: Some species mix pollen with nectar and carry it back to the nest in their crop, which is the anterior end of the digestive tract.2
As bees move between flowers, they deposit the pollen they carry onto the stigmas of other plants, enabling cross-fertilization.13