May 2026 • Nebraskaland 43
Grasses don't need animals to move their pollen around, but some animals visit
grass flowers anyway. Pollen grains contain lots of protein, carbohydrates and other
nutrients, so they make an excellent food source. Some bee species feed on grass
pollen, but flies are much more common visitors. In particular, hover flies — aka
syrphid flies — are commonly seen on grass flowers, often holding anthers like big
ice cream cones and licking the pollen from them.
Beetles, grasshoppers and crickets are a few other examples of insects that take
advantage of the nutritional value of grass pollen. Most grasses probably don't get
much benefit from these insect visitors. While the insects can move pollen from one
flower to another, they often damage or consume the operational parts of flowers
while they're at it. For the most part, the wind does a sufficient job for grasses, and
the overwhelming number of pollen grains flying through the air means there's a
good chance some will be caught by the right stigma on the right flower.
Grass flowers don't have to show off. If they went to parties, they wouldn't be the
attendees wearing big flashy hats or dresses with plunging necklines. They'd show
up in faded jeans and whichever shirt from the laundry pile smelled least bad.
Daisies and sunflowers are gorgeous, but it costs them a lot to look that good.
Grasses prefer to spend their energy elsewhere. They've been dominating prairies for
a very long time, so it must be working for them.
N
A tree cricket feeds on a big bluestem anther.
Leaf beetles eating big bluestem pollen/anthers.
Tree cricket on
prairie cordgrass.
A hover fly larva
feeds on big
bluestem.
