Thanks Simone. I am uncertain whether the protruding anthers are primarily an adaptation to pollination by birds rather than insects or perhaps the the bottle brushes are just opportunistic and rely on any visitor large or small. Our spinebills hang on the pendulous blooms of C. citrinus cv in our garden at the moment. But the more compact blooms of other species seem to rely more on insects than birds. I find it ironic that most of the published studies of pollination come from India and elsewhere where Callistemons are widely planted.
Yes, certainly these callistemons are swarming with about 20 species of bees, flies, beetles, butterflies etc but no birds. The wattle birds and smaller honeyeaters including spinebills seem more interested in grevilleas and other flowers at the moment. But they do mix it with the insects earlier in the season in large patch of C. “Pink Champagne” which has big flowers. The red flowered ones also seem to get more birds and a much smaller selection of insects
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