[Pollinator] Maples and Willows (link to the Lovell book)

[Kirk Wattles]

Oops, I gave the wrong link.  The Lovell book is on the web at
  https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005796910

And the specific quote on page 21:
  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951p01100138z;view=1up;seq=47

- Kirk


On Sep 13, 2016, at 2:59 PM, Kirk Wattles <kwattles at verizon.net> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm exploring topics relating to bee-friendly forage plants, particularly trees and shrubs.  A friend suggested I post my question to this group:
> 
> "Difficult as the problem once seemed, there is no longer any mystery why the flowers of many forest-trees appear before their leaves. They are or were in time past pollinated by the wind, although the willows and maples have in comparatively recent years changed over to insect-pollination." 
> 
> — p. 21 in John H. Lovell, "The Flower and the Bee," first published in 1918, reprint edition Wicwas Press, 2015.
> 
> The book is also online, at:
> https://archive.org/details/americanhoney00pell
> 
> It's a great book.  John Lovell was deeply immersed in the botanical literature of his day, and he did a lot of fascinating hands-on research with flowers and bees, which is detailed in his book.  The quote above tells a nice story that I'd like to retell in various contexts, if only it were true, but I need to verify it.
> 
> The closest I've gotten so far relates to Acer negundo (Box Elder, Ash-leaved Maple), a species which supposedly has been sliding the other way, from insect-pollinated to wind-pollinated.  And supposedly the other maples are following in the same direction.  (D. M. van.Gelderen, Maples of the world.)
> 
> So specifically, with willows and maples, what does the evolutionary record show?
> 
> What's the time scale?  In what periods have the individual species slipped significantly in one direction and/or the other?  How quickly do they slide?
> 
> Are there specific citations that would help me nail down these questions? 
> 
> I have other questions, too, which may be on-topic here if this one is.  But this is the one I'm most curious about.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> --
> Kirk Wattles
> 'Bees and Trees' project committee
> Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild
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