July 25th: “The Day the Pollen Dried”: A musical narrative about the day in the life of a pessimistic cone head

Today was xtreme to say the least. We finished phenology and pollinator observations before lunch, but during pollinator observations, the strangest thing happened. The Echinacea head I was watching started singing. It was singing Don McLean, no less! It was crazy.

 Lucky for you all, I caught it on video and transcribed it below.

---

 The Day the Pollen Dried

 A long long time ago (this morning)
I can still remember how
Those bees used to pollinate me
And I knew if I got a compatible pollen grain
That I could make a seed set
And maybe it’d germinate in a while

But robber flies made me shiver
With all the egg-goo they delivered
White gunk between my bracts
I couldn’t set one more seed

I can’t remember if I cried
When I saw my widowed anther (last day male)
Something changed deep inside
The day the pollen dried (up)

So

Bye, bye Miss augochlorella guy (*it’s probably a female)
Presented my pollen to the bees but the bees were too shy
And that good ole Team Echinacea would point a camera and cry
Singin’ what if I never see a pollinator guy?
What if I never see a pollinator guy?

Did you find the pollinator reference collection?
And put on sunscreen for protection?
If your sunburn tells you so?
Do you believe in a change in the pollinator communities?
Can andrena composite-specialize in me?
And can you put your bucket in a different row?

Well, I know that you’re interested in me
‘Cause I saw you counting my styles persisting’
You counted back from day sixteen
Man, I dig those styles that are shriveling’

I was a lonely, perennial, long-lived plant
With a cone head and a lots of ants
But I knew I had lost my chance
The  day the pollen dried (up)
I started singin’