Summary
To pollinate an alfalfa flower, a bee has to trip a spring-loaded petal that bops it on the head -- and alfalfa helps feed the cows behind your ice cream. Deep Look shows how a special bee puts up with the punch to pollinate the crop.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Alfalfa flowers snap shut on visitors, so honey bees learn to avoid them -- but a tougher wild bee trips the flower and carries pollen from bloom to bloom. Moving that pollen lets the plants make seeds. Animals and plants depending on each other.
- How does the bee help the alfalfa plant?
- Why do some bees avoid the 'punching' flowers?
- How does moving pollen help the plant make seeds?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: pollen, pollinate, seed, flower.
Try it: Dab flour on a cotton swab 'bee' and touch two paper flowers. Write how the bee carries pollen so a plant can make seeds.