HUMMINGBIRD FLOWERS

Hummingbirds are opportunists and will try to feed at any flower with nectar, no matter what its color, shape, size, or position. If this is true, then why does everybody make such a fuss about red tubular flowers? And why do they call them “hummingbird flowers”?

To answer these questions we first need to consider some of the basics of flowers.

Why Do Flowers Produce Nectar?

Flowers produce nectar to attract insects, birds, or mammals. As these visitors feed on the sweet nectar, they inadvertently get pollen on their bodies. Pollen is the male sex cell of the flower. When the visitor then leaves and sips nectar from a new flower, it inadvertently transfers the pollen to the female parts of this new flower. This results in cross-pollination; the pollen from one flower has fertilized another.

The female part of the second flower then develops a seed which contains some genes from both plants. In the long run, seeds resulting from cross-pollination are more vigorous and grow into better-adapted plants than those resulting from self-pollination.

Exclusive Club

Some flowers have become specially adapted to attracting hummingbirds and to having their pollen carried from plant to plant by the birds. At the same time they have adapted to exclude or discourage other flower visitors, so that their nectar is reserved for the hummers.

Some of the adaptations accomplish both purposes. Most such flowers are red. This is because while red is easily seen and distinguished from other colors by the birds, bees see red as just another dark, blackish color and are not particularly attracted to it.

Most of these flowers also have their nectar at the base of long, thin, tubular flowers. Bees and other pollinators do not have tongues long enough to reach the nectar, but for the hummingbird, with its long bill and long tongue, this is quite easy.

Many of these flowers point down or to the side rather than up. This orientation makes it hard for bees and other insects to land on them. In addition, many have small petals and small openings at the tip, leaving no landing platform for the insects. These adaptations are not a problem for the hummingbirds since they can easily hover to the side or beneath as they take nectar.

One final adaptation is that most of these flowers have no fragrance. This makes them less attractive to bees, which are in part guided by scent, but no less attractive to birds, which have very little sense of smell.

Nectar Thieves

When bees cannot get to nectar through the opening in a flower, they often try to poke through the base of the flower to reach it. Hummingbird flowers are also adapted to guard against this. At the base of most hummingbird flowers is a thickened covering that keeps the nectar thieves from completing a successful robbery. Or the bases of many blossoms may be grouped together in such a way that the insects cannot reach them.

Do Hummingbirds Prefer Red?

Hummingbirds feed at flowers of many different colors. They do not instinctively prefer red flowers over others, but as they get more experience feeding, they learn that red tubular flowers often contain the most nectar. This is why we have red ornamentation on our feeders and why we recommend planting lots of such hummingbird flowers to attract the birds.

Carrying Pollen

While what hummingbirds are looking for when visiting flowers is a meal, what the flowers want is to have their pollen carried to another flower. To assure this they have their pollen placed in just the right position so that, when the hummingbird drinks nectar, the pollen gets on it.

Different flowers get pollen on different parts of the hummingbird. For example, cardinal flower, penstemons, and paintbrushes get pollen on the bird's forehead; Arizona trumpet is one of the few flowers that gets pollen only on the bird's chin; columbine and current get pollen all around the base of the hummingbird's bill.

As you watch hummingbirds feed, look closely at their bills and faces for traces of yellow pollen. It may help you to determine which flowers they have been visiting.

West versus East/South versus North

It is interesting to note that as you move north from the equator the number of native hummingbird species diminishes. At the equator there are up to 163 species; in Central America there are about 55; in the western states 7; and in Alaska only 1. To some extent the same is true of the numbers of species of native hummingbird flowers. There are fewer as you move north.

It is also true that there are far more hummingbird flowers in the West than in eastern North America. This is probably because there are up to 15 species of hummingbirds in the West and only 1 in the East.

The accompanying lists of western and eastern hummingbird wildflowers reflect these differences. Only those that are fairly clearly adapted to hummingbirds were included. Still, there are so many western species that we could list only about half of them.

A broad-tailed hummingbird, male, having a meal at desert trumpet flowers.

Working with Wildflowers

Creating a hummingbird habitat does not necessarily mean clearing off a patch of soil and putting in plants. Before doing this, check for hummingbird wildflowers that may already be growing in the area. If you find some, help them flourish where they are by cutting back the competition, creating more light for them, or giving them more water. In this way you may be able to turn a few wildflowers into a thriving patch of bloom.

There are many benefits to this approach, besides the fact that you save money on plants. You can learn what lives naturally in your area, help plants to grow where they have already “chosen” to grow, help our native wildflower population, and gain the feeling that you are working with nature.

Some Hummingbird Wildflowers of the West

Bleeding Heart Family	Bleeding Hearts	Dicentra formosa
Bluebell Family	Cardinal Flower	Lobelia cardinalis
Buttercup Family	Barrel Columbine	Aquilegia triternata	Canadian Columbine	A. canadense	Canon Delphinium	Delphinium nudicaule	Comet Columbine	A. elegantula	Crimson Columbine	A. formosa	Scarlet Delphinium	D. cardinale
Evening Primrose Family	Any one of many red fireweeds including:	Parched Fireweed	Epilobium paniculatum	Red Fireweed	E. angustifolium	Sticky Fireweed	E. glandulosum	Watson's Fireweed E. watsonii	Arizona Trumpet	Zauschneria latifolia
Four O'Clock Family	Devil's Bouquet	Nyctaginia capitata
Gentian Family	Lady Bird's Centaury	Centaurium texense	Mountain Centaury	C. beyrichii
Lily Family	Any one of many lilies including:	Coast Lily	Lilium maritimum	Columbia Lily	L. columbianum	Western Tiger Lily	L. occidentale
Mallow Family	Texas Mallow	Malvaviscus arboreus
Mint Family	Coyote Mint	Monardella odoratissima	Mintleaf Beebalm	Monarda menthifolia	Scarlet Betony	Stachys coccinea	Scarlet Sage	Salvia spp.
Morning Glory Family	Scarlet Creeper	Ipomoea hederifolia
Pea Family	Coral Bean Erythrina herbacea
Phlox Family	Any one of many red phloxes including:	Longleaf Phlox	Plox longifolia	Lovely Phlox	P. amabilis	Stansbury's Phlox	P. stansburyi	Woodhouse's Phlox	P. woodhousei	Coral Gilia	Gilia subnuda	Rock Gilia	G. scopulorum	Grand Collomia	Collomia grandiflora	Tiny Trumpet C.	linearis	Desert Trumpet	Ipomopsis aggregata	Texas Plume I.	rubra
Pink Family	California Indian Pink	Silene californica	Mexican Pink	S. laciniata
Snapdragon Family	Any one of many monkey flowers including:	Bigelow Monkey Flower	Mimulus bigelovii	Lewis's Monkey Flower	M. lewisii	Pygmy Monkey Flower	M. rubellus	Scarlet Monkey Flower	M. cardinalis	Any one of many red paintbrushes including:	Applegate's Paintbrush	Castilleja applegatei	Bristly Paintbrush	C. hispida	California Threadtorch	C. stenantha	Desert Paintbrush	C. chromosa	Giant Red Paintbrush	C. miniata	Southwest Paintbrush	C. integra	Texas Paintbrush	C. indivisa	Woolly Paintbrush	C. lanata	Wyoming Paintbrush	C. linariaefolia	Any one of many red penstemons including:	Arizona Penstemon	Penstemon pseu-dospectabilis	Bacchus’ Penstemon	P. baccharifolius	Eaton's Firecracker	P. eatonii	Mountain Pride	P. newberryi	Richardson Penstemon	P. richardsonii	Southwest Penstemon	P. barbatus	California Figwort	Scrophularia californica	Red Figwort S.	coccinea	Bird's Beak Lousewort	Pedicularis ornithorhyncha	Indian Warrior	P. densiflora	Snapdragon Vine	Maurandya antirrhiniflora
Vervain Family	Calico Bush	Lantana horrida	Desert Lantana	L. macropoda
Wintergreen Family	Snow Plant	Sarcodes sanguinea

A female ruby-throated hummingbird looking into the gorgeous flowers of a trumpet creeper vine.

Some Hummingbird Wildflowers of the East	Bignonia Family	Cross Vine	Bignonia capreolata	Trumpet Vine	Campsis radicans
Bluebell Family	Cardinal Flower	Lobelia cardinalis
Buttercup Family	Wild Columbine	Aquilegia canadense
Evening Primrose Family	Fireweed	Epilubium angustifolium
Honeysuckle Family	Trumpet Honeysuckle	Lonicera sempirvirens
Iris Family	Red Iris	Iris fulva
Lily Family	Canada Lily	Lilium canadense	Wood Lily	L. philadelphicum
Logania Family	Indian Pink	Spigelia marilandica
Mint Family	Bee Balm	Monarda didyma	Purple Bergamot	M. media
Morning Glory Family	Red Morning Glory	Ipomoea coccinea
Phlox Family	Texas Plume	Ipomopsis rubra	Smooth Phlox	Phlox laberrima	Wild Sweet William	P. maculata
Pink Family	Fire Pink	Silene virginica	Scarlet Lychnis	Lychnis chalcedonica
Snapdragon Family	Indian Paintbrush	Castilleja coccinea	Red Turtlehead	Chelone obliqua
Touch-Me-Not Family	Pale Jewelweed	Impatiens pallida	Spotted Jewelweed	I. capensis