Many of you may have heard about one of our elegant native plants, Death Camas (Toxicoscordion venenosum), but have you heard about its primary pollinator? Meet the Death Camas Miner Bee (Adrena astragali), one of the few insects, and the only bee that can survive Death Camas’ deadly neurotoxin (zygacine) which it produces in its pollen and nectar as well as its leaves and bulbs. In humans, if consumed, Death Camas can cause a wide range of symptoms, including salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, GI upset, emesis, and eventually the loss of coordinated movement, coma, and in some cases death, but this doesn’t occur in the Death Camas Miner Bee. This bee and Death Camas have a specialist relationship, the flower of Death Camas can only be pollinated by the Death Camas Miner Bee, and the bee only uses pollen and nectar from a few closely related species of Death Camas. You may be asking why this bee would ever collect toxic pollen and nectar to feed itself and its young. It’s speculated that this species does this to deter parasitism, primarily from species of cuckoo bees in the genus Nomada. Bees in this genus will enter the nests of various species of mining bees and lay their eggs next to the host bees’ eggs. Once the parasitic egg hatches, it will eat the egg of the host or kill the newly emerged offspring. From here, the parasites offspring will feed on the pollen and nectar that was originally provisioned by the host for its own offspring. The Death Camas Miner Bee collects toxic pollen and nectar and avoids this problem. The parasitic bees will learn that Death Camas Miner Bees are deadly hosts and avoid parasitizing their nests. Now that you are more familiar with the Death Camas Miner Bee and its specialist relationship with Death Camas, try to find some on your own! Death Camas is in bloom right now in the grasslands around Missoula, and where Death Camas grows, it’s very likely that the Death Camas Miner Bee will live there too!
Sources:
Cane, J. H. (2018). Co-dependency between a specialist Andrena bee and its death camas host, Toxicoscordion paniculatum. Arthropod-Plant Interactions, 12(5), 657–662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-018-9626-9
Mitton, J. (2022, April 1). A rare relationship between death camas and Death Camas miner bees. Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2022/04/01/rare-relationship-between-death-camas-and-death-camas-miner-bees
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 3). Toxicoscordion venenosum. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicoscordion_venenosum
