FLOWER TYPES
May-June

Flowers can be grouped by how they are pollinated.
All are all either wind-pollinated or animal-pollinated.
Insects are the animals that do the vast majority of pollinating,
so most flowers have evolved to attract insects of some sort,
usually offering a reward of nectar.

Different groups of insects have different abilities, tastes, and requirements, so flowers advertising to different groups have different characteristics.

Bees see blue and yellow best and respond to fragrances. Bees are strong, agile fliers and climbers, but they need a place to land on the flower that will support their weight. Butterflies are lighter weight but less agile, so they like a flat landing pad, like a cluster of small, upright flowers. Rather than push their way into a flower, they uncoil their long proboscises to reach in daintily. Moths, flying at night, can see white flowers best and are attracted to sweet fragrances. Beetles are clumsy, heavy fliers with basic, chewing mouthparts. Flies are light-weight and like smells of rotting things. Hummingbirds are not insects, but are an important group of pollinators. They are strong, hovering fliers attracted to red. They have long bills and tongues.

Knowing all this, someone devised the groups of flowers pictured on the accompanying page from the Spring Wildflower Show.

How many kinds of flowers in each group can you find in the Arb?

Make five columns, one for each flower type, and tally (or write the name of the flower) each flower species you find blooming.

I only tested this activity with one class. I'm not sure how satisfying the categories are, but in trying to use them you will be thinking about pollinators and flowers. You can try to make better categories.

Watch some flowers on a warm, calm day.
Are the insects that visit a given flower the ones we thought would?

Here are some flowers I know fit in these categories:

Wind-pollinated: alder, pine, silk tassel, hazelnut, grasses

Simple flowers: California poppy, azalea, meadowfoam, clarkia, Ithuriel's spear, candy flower, wood sorrel, mock orange, buttercup (a weed), evening primrose,

Bee flowers: figwort, hedgenettle, lupine, violet,

Composite flowers: gumplant, English daisy (the little, white-and-yellow weeds in the lawn), dune tansy, yarrow, common California aster, coltsfoot, false dandelions (the commonest, yellow-flowered weed in the lawn), dandelion

Hummingbird flowers: California fuchsia, columbine

Moth flowers: soap plant (opens a white, fragrant flower at night)