Pigments in the blue pollen and bee pollen of Fuchsia excorticata

A comparison of the pigments in Fuchsia extorticata pollen with the pigment s extracted from the unusually coloured blue-black "fuchsia" bee pollen con firms the New Zealand tree fuchsia as the source of the bee pollen. The pig ments were identified as the p-trans-coumaroylated derivatives of delphindi n-, petunidin and malvidin-3-O-glucosides and delphinidin-3-O-(p-cis-coumar oyl-glucoside). The anthocyanins are accompanied by several flavonol glycos ides; kaempferol-3-sophoroside, quercetin-3-sophoroside and kaempferol 3-ne ohesperidoside.