Abstract
As Knuth's great work on flower pollination, compiled from all available sources, says nothing whatever about the olive, I recently asked Prof. J. E. Coit, of Arizona, to look out for insects upon the flowers. He carefully examined many olive trees in flower at Tucson, and did not find a single insect at the flowers, with the exception of a thrips (apparently Euthrips occidentalis, Pergande), which occurred in great numbers. He kindly sent me some twigs with the Euthrips upon them, and I was able to observe that these insects were profusely dusted with pollen. No bees were seen at all Prof. Coit adds:—“Olive pollen is formed and shed in such enormous quantities that I think the wind among the branches is the chief agent in pollination. If you jar a large branch of olive while it is in full bloom, a perfect cloud of green pollen will be seen to float away on the breeze”.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
COCKERELL, T. The Pollination of the Olive. Nature 78, 31 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/078031c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/078031c0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.