The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Fivespot Nemophila maculata (Hydrophyllaceae)
Unlike most animals, flowering plants cannot move about to seek their mates. By attracting insects and other animals and providing behavioral cues so that a high frequency of cross pollination results, flowering plants have in a sense transcended their immobile condition. Bees, which find Fivespot to be an attention grabber, are the most important group of flower visiting animals. Both male and female bees feed on nectar, and the females collect pollen to feed the larvae. Bee flowers (flowers coevolved with bees) like Fivespot often have distinctive markings by which bees can quickly recognize them.
DISTRIBUTION: Meadows, woodlands, and roadbanks in the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento Valley; 60-3100 m.
