Phil wrote
> There had been
>considerable rain the week before, after a dry spell. Does anyone know if
>nectar production is affected by rainfall?
While it would seem logical, as I pointed out in an earlier
post, the Fuchsia magellanica that was most visited, was in a
spot that didn't get summer water--and in this area, that means
from June 1 to mid September. The plant was older and larger,
so there were more flowers--a hundred minimum? The plant was
visited regularly, meaning every ten-15 minutes, and the same
flowers were undoubtedly visited repeatedly, without seeming
to shorten visits to previously visited flowers.
May I also add, the flowers of Fuchsia m. are not "red".
The sepals are of various shades of near red, while the corolla
is "purple"--and you can argue about the shade of purple. There
are different forms, and they vary in color. The white forms did
not draw very many visits, but the plants were in more shade,
and may not have been as obvious as those in sunlight. Or, plants
in sunlight may develop more nectar. Or???
Color that humans see is not the only factor, neither is
form of the flowers, and it may be a combination, and include
the season, as some plants are eagerly visited early but not
late in a season, or vice versa.
Fuchsia magellanica does develop berries (which are
edible, if not particularly tasty), but apparently not directly as
a result of hummingbirds--plants the hummers paid little attention
to developed as many berries as those that were visited
regularly. I assume there were seeds, but am not sure--
fuchsia berries are messy to clean, and what appear to be
seeds may be "blanks".
Ken