796 
Telopea Vol. 6(4): 1996 
The flowers of Persoania species in south-eastern Australia do not really appear to be 
examples of generalist melittophily as have been described, for example, in Australian 
Acacia species (Bernhardt 1989). That is, while many taxa within the Hymenoptera 
forage on the flowers of Persoonia in eastern Australia comparatively few visit the 
flowers frequently enough, and/or carry loads of Persoonia pollen directly to stigmas, 
to be regarded as primary agents of cross-pollination. In contrast, almost every bee 
(representing 27 taxa in four bee families) can collect pollen from the simple, brushlike, 
inflorescences of an Acacia species and then contact stigmas when it visits florets on 
a second inflorescence bearing receptive stigmas (Bernhardt 1989). 
The way in which Leioproctus (Cladoccrapis) species harvest pollen from Persoonia 
anthers is atypical but the actual act of cross-pollination in Persoonia species appears 
similar to many other bee-pollinated angiosperms offering both nectar and pollen as 
edible rewards. That is, the pollination of Persoonia flowers appears to depend 
ultimately on whether bees contact both anthers and stigmas regularly while foraging 
actively for nectar and/or pollen (Barth 1985; Kearns and Inouye 1993). 
Although the perianth appears superficially tubular in all Persoonia species studied 
the floral architecture really functions more like a gullet flower. The functional 
Table 8. Analyses of loads containing the pollen of four Persoonia spp. from bees collected at 
the Hilltop (P. mollis subsp. nectens, P. glaucescens and P. lanceolata) and Nerriga (P mollis 
subsp. livens) sites. 
Bee taxon and Persoonia sp. 
Bees carrying pollen 
Bees carrying pollen 
on which bee was caught 
of two Persoonia spp. 
of one Persoonia sp. 
P. mollis subsp. livens 
Apis mellifera 
0 
1 
Exoneura sp.* 
1 
1 
Leioproctus speculiferus* 
2 
1 
subtotals 
ratio of mixed foraging = 0.5 
3 
3 
P. mollis subsp. nectens 
Homalictus urbanus 
0 
1 
Leioproctus carinatifrons 
1 
3 
L. incanescens 
0 
5 
L. speculiferus 
4 
2 
L. (Filiglossa) sp. 
0 
1 
subtotals 
ratio of mixed foraging = 0.29 
5 
12 
P. glaucescens 
Apis mellifera 
1 
0 
Leioproctus carinatifrons 
3 
4 
L. incanescens 
2 
7 
L. speculiferus 
3 
2 
subtotals 
ratio of mixed foraging = 0.31 
9 
13 
P. lanceolata 
Exoneura sp. 
0 
1 
Leioproctus carinatifrons 
1 
4 
L. incanescens 
1 
5 
L. speculiferus 
1 
10 
L. (Filiglossa) spp. 
0 
2 
subtotals 
ratio of mixed foraging = 0.11 
3 
22 
grand total 
grand ratio = 0.28 
* Bees carried pollen of P. microphylla 
20 
50 
