Long time no beetographying…The last time I serious shot bees was probably in Taiyuan, China (June 6-July 6th).
I am not sure which goji berry （Lycium spp, Solanaceae） I have here (see the end for Wiki info),but bees were working on them for the last few days. I thought it would be too cool this morning around 9 am to see them, but they were foraging. It seems they were foraging for both nectar and pollen. These were planted in our backyard garden and we eat the leaves. Goji berry fruit is a medicine in China. I have seen honey produced from this plan, mainly in the Ningxia region.
1. Flower, without flash. Had to use high ISO, shaded areas did not have enough light.
2. Flower, with flash.
3. A bee approaching this flower from behind..giving a full view of the flower. No flash.
4. a bee with pollen, which is pale. no flash.
5. All other photos below used internal flash at 1/250 and F13-18.
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9. A bumble bee also foraging on it.
10. Sweet potatoes also blooming… in case you wonder why it looks so similar to a morning glory…they are in the same family, Convolvulaceae.
From Wiki:
Wolfberry, commercially called goji berry, is the common name for the fruit of two very closely related species: Lycium barbarum (Chinese: 寧å¤æž¸æž; pinyin: NÃngxià gÇ’uqÇ) and L. chinense (Chinese: 枸æž; pinyin: gÇ’uqÇ), two species of boxthorn in the family Solanaceae (which also includes the potato, tomato, eggplant, deadly nightshade, chili pepper, and tobacco). It is native to southeastern Europe and Asia.[1]
It is also known as Chinese wolfberry, mede berry, barbary matrimony vine, bocksdorn, Duke of Argyll’s tea tree, Murali (in India),[2] red medlar, or matrimony vine.[3] Unrelated to the plant’s geographic origin, the names Tibetan goji and Himalayan goji are in common use in the health food market for products from this plant.