List of crop plants pollinated by bees

This is a list of crop plants pollinated by bees. Most of them are pollinated in whole or part by honeybees and by the crop's natural pollinators, like bumblebees, orchard bees, squash bees, and solitary bees. Where the same plants have non-bee pollinators such as birds or other insects, these are also indicated.

Pollination by insects is called entomophily. Entomophily is a form of plant pollination whereby pollen is distributed by insects, particularly bees, Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), flies and beetles. Honey bees pollinate many plant species that are not native to their natural habitat but are often inefficient pollinators of such plants; if they are visiting ten different species of flower, only a tenth of the pollen they carry may be the right species. Other bees tend to favor one species at a time, therefore do most of the actual pollination.

The most essential staple food crops on the planet, like corn, wheat, rice, soybeans and sorghum, need no insect help at all; they are wind-pollinated or self-pollinating. Other staple food crops, like bananas and plantains, are sterile and propagated from cuttings, requiring no pollination of any form, ever. Further, foods such as root vegetables and salad crops will produce a useful food crop without pollination, though they may not set seed; and hybrids do not even require insect pollination to produce seeds for the next generation, because hybrid production is always human-pollinated. Many of the most desirable and common non-hybrid crops, like heirloom tomatoes, are self-pollinated, which is what makes their cultivar stable.

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