the birds and the bees

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/28/2011 01:08 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Sometimes,
>indeed, the flower papa lives on an entirely separate tree, or bush, from
>the flower mamma, as in the date-palm and others; but when he does, he is
>always sending her love messages and gifts by the birds and the bees.

With date-palms, is it not bees but wasps?  And in 1887 did Emma
Marwedel also explain that each type of date-palm had its own
particular wasp, with anatomy particularly suited to ... um,
penetrating the flowers of that species of palm?  (I sincerely hope
I'm not off-base on this, or I'll have to speak to my mother.)

Joel

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