- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You're shaking my confidence daily...
--"Oh, Cecelia" written by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkle
If you think of the song, "Oh, Cecelia,' every time you pronounce Phacelia (the plant), you're not alone.
Pollinators, especially honey bees, bumble bees and syrphid flies, love the lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) at the Joseph and Emma Lin Biological Orchard and Garden (BOG) near the Botanical Conservatory at the University of California, Davis.
P. tanacetifolia, a leggy three-foot plant clustered with light blue to purple flowers, is a member of the borage family, Boraginaceae. It's native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Where is the BOG? Back of Parking Lot 26 on Kleiber Drive.
What's in it? It's landscaped with several dozen species of heritage fruit trees and colorful mini-gardens.
A sign describes the garden. "This unique landscape showcases a slice of biodiversity in the heart of the central campus and is a hub for outdoor learning...The drought-tolerant plants growing in these beds are all from Mediterranean regions with similar summer-dry climates in Davis, including the Mediterranean, South Africa, Chile and Australia. The beds demonstrate the diversity of plants that can grow in the Sacramento Valley and provide students and campus visitors with a variety of species to observe and study."
So, basically, BOG is an outdoor laboratory for hands-on learning. "Classes perform biodiversity assessments, record insect observations and monitor the onsite weather stations," Instagram relates. Student employees, interns and volunteers at the Botanical Conservatory take care of the garden.
Among the flowers blooming in the BOG in the early spring, by color:
- Red: European red flax, Linum grandiflorum rubrum, an annual that's native to Algeria
- Yellow: tidy tips, Layia platyglossa, an annual that's native to California
--The seep monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, native to California
--Lupine, Lupinus, native to North America. - Blue: Desert bell, Phacelia campanularia, an annual herb that is native to California and endemic (limited) to California.
- Lavender: Phacelia, also called Lacy phacelia, blue tansy or purple tansy (Phacelia tanacetifolia), native to the southwestern United States
--Lupine: Lupinus, native to North America - Red-Orange-Yellow: Blanket flower or Gaillardia (Gaillardia × grandiflora), native to North and South America
- Orange: California golden poppies, Eschscholtzia californica
But it's the Phacelia that's the big draw today.
Phacelia, you're breaking my heart...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever watched a bumble bee ballet?
Bumble bees may look clumsy in flight, but they get the job done.
We recently marveled at the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on lacy phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolia, on the UC Davis campus.
This is a native bumble bee and a native plant.
Bumble bees do love Phacelia (think of Cecelia when you're pronouncing it--and there's probably a Cecelia out there who loves Phacelia as much as bumble bees do.)
B. vosnesenskii is native to the west coast of North America, and its range spans from British Columbia to Baja California. "The genus name Bombus--the bumblebee--comes from the Latin word which means a buzzing or humming sound, according to Wikipedia. "There are 250 species split into 38 subgenera within the genus Bombus."
Phacelia, a species in the borage family, Boraginaceae, is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In Greek, its name means means "bundle," in reference to its clustered flowers, according to Wikipedia, while tanacetifolia means "with leaves resembling those of Tanacetum."
Plant Phacelia and you'll be graced with bumble bee ballets. No ballet lessons required.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you attend the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 15, you'll see these California natives blooming in the Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG), a 24,000-square-foot treasure behind the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory off Kleiber Hall Drive.
The ninth annual Biodiversity Museum Day, a science-based day that's free and family friendly, will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and showcase 13 museums or collections, including the Botanical Conservatory, managed by curator Ernesto Sandoval.
BOG is a living museum, planted not only with several dozen species of heritage fruit trees, but landscaped with colorful mini-gardens.
Among the flowers blooming in the BOG in the early spring, by color:
- Red: European red flax, Linum grandiflorum rubrum, an annual that's native to Algeria
- Yellow: tidy tips, Layia platyglossa, an annual that's native to California
--The seep monkey flower, Mimulus guttatus, native to California
--Lupine, Lupinus, native to North America. - Blue: Desert bell, Phacelia campanularia, an annual herb that is native to California and endemic (limited) to California.
- Lavender: Phacelia, also called Lacy phacelia, blue tansy or purple tansy (Phacelia tanacetifolia), native to the southwestern United States
--Lupine: Lupinus, native to North America - Red-Orange-Yellow: Blanket flower or Gaillardia (Gaillardia × grandiflora), native to North and South America
- Orange: California golden poppies, Eschscholtzia californica
The orchard contains heritage fruit tree varieties threatened with commercial extinction. They include the Gravenstein and Johnathan apples; the Suncrest peach; the Bleinheim apricot, the Mariposa plum and the Meyer lemon. See the full list of trees as well as some fun facts here: https://thebogatucd.wixsite.com/bogucd/single-post/2017/07/18/BOG-Fruit-Trees.
UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day
The ninth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is billed as a “free, educational event for the community where visitors get to meet and talk with UC Davis scientists from undergraduate students to staff to emeritus professors and see amazing objects and organisms from the world around us,” according to Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Last year's event drew more than 4000 visitors. The event is always held the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend.
The schedule is online at http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/schedule.html.
Participating museums or collections and the hours they will be open:
- The Botanical Conservatory, the Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The following five will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Shields Oak Grove, alongside the Vet School, Garrod Drive on campus
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and Main Hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
- California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394 and Mail Hall, Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
- Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road
Two collections will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
- Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
These five will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
All 13 sites are within walking distance except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road. Further information, including a campus map, is available on the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website. Maps will be distributed at the 13 sites.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Talk about pollen!
The bumble bees, Bombus vandykei (as identified by Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis), were buzzing all over the Phacelia last week on the central campus.
One bumble bee carried a heavy load of orange pollen (collected nearby), while another, a small load of blue pollen. They both wanted the same flower.
I'll have what you're having! Move, please.
Sorry. I'm not finished here.
She didn't move. Not then.
Both the bumble bee and the plant are natives.
The genus Phacelia, also known by its common name, phacelia, or scorpionweed or heliotrope, is native to North and South America. Its genus includes some 200 species.
VanDyke's Bumble Bee is found in the Pacific Coastal states, including Washington, Oregon and California. Bombus vandykei is one of about 250 described species of bumble bees worldwide. All belong to the genus, Bombus.
The vandykei males are extensively blond, but not the females. In fact, the females are often confused with the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (A distinguishing feature: on the vandykei, the yellow abdominal band is on T3 rather than T4.) See BugGuide.Net.
Want to know more about bumble bees and how to identify them? Be sure to pick up a copy of Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University Press), co-authored by Thorp and fellow scientists Paul Williams, Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla. It won a 2015 Outstanding Reference Sources Award, Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association.
A really innovative touch to the Princeton University site is the buzz. Click on the link, http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10219.html, and you'll hear the buzz.
It's just like being in a Phacelia patch filled with bumble bees!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The first thing you notice when you walk up to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are the natives.
Native plants, that is.
California golden poppies and phacelia are among the plants sharing the "Pollination Habitat" bed. The golden poppies literally light up the landscape. The phacelia, not so much.
The next thing you notice are the bumble bees, carpenter bees, honey bees and syrphid flies foraging on the natives. An occasional butterfly flits by.
Today a bumble bee, Bombus vandykei, buzzed from one phacelia to another. She was interested only in phacelia. Nothing else, thank you.
She quickly found herself competing with honey bees for the nectar and pollen.
A sign, "Pollinator Habitat," tells the story:
"This area has been placed with a range of flowering native plants to provide hgh waulity habitat for native bees and other pollinators. To learn how you can create good habitat for pollinators please visit www.xerces.org."
Phacelia is one of the bee plants recommended in G. H.Vansell's booklet, Nectar and Pollen Plants of California (Bulletin 517). Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, mentions phacelia in his list of good bee plants in a 2002 edition of his newsletter, from the UC apiaries.
And phacelia is also a plant that pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at UC Davis, is studying.
