Today's Flower comes with its very own pollinator.
I believe that the flower is a type of aster. According to the Minnesota Wildflowers website there are four different types of asters that have narrow purple pedals with a yellow center that grow in Minnesota.
Here is a side view of the flower. These flowers are fairly common around the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge in the Minnesota Valley National Wldlife Refuge, which is where this picture was taken. Bees, like this bumble bee, can usually be seen crawling over and flying between flowers looking for necter and pollen.
I believe that the flower is a type of aster. According to the Minnesota Wildflowers website there are four different types of asters that have narrow purple pedals with a yellow center that grow in Minnesota.
Here is a side view of the flower. These flowers are fairly common around the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge in the Minnesota Valley National Wldlife Refuge, which is where this picture was taken. Bees, like this bumble bee, can usually be seen crawling over and flying between flowers looking for necter and pollen. 
5 comments:
Two for one! Nice shot!
Great shots. That bee sure is busy! :-)
A hard working bee on a beautiful flower!
Wonderful bee and flower photos.
There are several blue or purple asters native to MN, but most cannot be identified by the flowers alone - you need to look at the bracts and leaves to distinguish one species from another. The top photo is definitely an aster (no doubt genus Symphyotrichum), but from the shape of the bract and the "petals" in the bottom photo (petals look tubular with spreading lobes at the end), I believe the second is spotted knapweed (Centaurea biebersteinii). It is also in the aster family, but is a non-native invasive species and on the noxious weed list for many states.
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