Indian Hemp/Dogbane - Apocynum cannabinum. Kin to milkweeds (indeed it has its cousin's nasty latex making it a very toxic salad green), but interestingly it does not have pollinia like milkweeds, but essentially sticky pollen, that gets glued to visitors. If I read things right the pollen is not used to feed baby bees (this needs to be verified) and it is mostly a nectar attraction game. In the google literature claims of attractiveness to bees is all over the map, some way it attracts a lot and others say it is mostly a moth/butterfly thing. I can tell from lots of field experience that there is often almost nothing on these plants and then BOOM bees all over the place. My impression is that it is more used when nothing better is blooming (sort of the Raman Noodle of the bee plant world). Good plant to stick in an established cool season field as it seems (like common milkweed) to be able to handle the competition. Photo and specimen by Helen Lowe Metzman.
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All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
Photography Information:
Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde
You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML
Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use? Well now here you go Citizen:
Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:
www.extreme-macro.co.uk/
Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:
bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf
Basic USGSBIML set up:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY
USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4
Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections
PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:
ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf
Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo
or
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU
Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
www.photomacrography.net/
Contact information:
Sam Droege
sdroege@usgs.gov
301 497 5840
