Pointleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos pungens) and unidentified blue butterfly, at Ramsey Canyon.
Just about every floret in this cluster has a tiny hole drilled into it by an opportunistic native bee. The hole lets the bee get at a sweet nectar treat even before the flower has fully opened. But because the hole in the flower's corolla bypasses pistils and stamens it disrupts pollen exchange, and cheats the flower out of a chance to be fertilized. This kind of nectar robbing also influences insect community structures and determines what other pollinators might visit the plant, as seen here, where the butterfly is able to exploit the hole drilled by the bee, but other pollinators are potentially excluded.
Etymology note: The binomial for this manzanita species is fun to unpack. Arctos is from a Greek word meaning bear, staphylos (from the Greek staphyle) for clusters of fruit that resemble a bunch of grapes, and pungens from a Latin word meaning prick or puncture, for the sharply pointed leaves – prickly-leafed bear grapes!
