2012 25-CENT COLOURED COIN - ASTER AND BUMBLE BEE

Nature's Canny Cultivator: The Bumble Bee

It is one of summer's iconic moments: a buzzing black-and-yellow bumble bee plodding heavily from delicate bloom to delicate bloom. A subgroup of the roughly 730 described species of bees
(Apoidea: Anthophila) in Canada, bumble bees (genus Bombus), native to the Americas as well as Europe, Asia, and North Africa, are important pollinators crucial to the ongoing survival of many
flowering plants.

Bumble bees in particular engage in a practice known as 'buzz pollination,' where, clutching a flower's stamen with their jaws, they rapidly vibrate their wing muscles, loosening and scattering pollen.

Bumble bees are among the most resilient types of bees and prefer temperate climates. Because they are generalists, gathering nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers (up to 20 flowers per minute), it is somewhat easier for them to survive environmental changes.

Nevertheless, like many bees, they are threatened by factors such as habitat loss, parasites, and pathogens. Luckily, anyone can help to support and attract bumble and other bee populations by planting a variety of native flowering plants.

A Perfect Match: The Bumble Bee and the Aster

The North American species of Aster (reclassified in the 1990s to other genera, but still commonly known as asters) are flowering perennial herbs usually bearing striking blue, mauve, pink, or white flowers. These lovely plants share an important symbiosis with bumble bees: the bees are one of the asters' key pollinators and for many bumble bees, asters are a major food source. Asters are also easy to grow and thus a great choice for Canadian gardeners.

Specifications:
Item number: 118104
Face Value: 25 cents
Mintage: 20,000
Composition: Cupronickel
Diameter (mm): 35
Edge: Plain
Finish: Specimen with colour

Special Features:
-A fantastic collector's item as well as a beautiful gift to commemorate many occasions such as the coming of spring, or a nature lover's birthday.
-Coin two in a series featuring coloured flowers and their 'friends'.
-This engraved and coloured coin showcases a beautiful aster sharing its pollen with an intricately detailed bumblebee.
-This low-mintage coin comes in the Royal Canadian Mint's attractive branded clamshell case.
-A great collectible for nature lovers, wildflower enthusiasts, conservationists, and more.

Packaging:
Coin is encapsulated and presented in a Royal Canadian Mint branded maroon clamshell case
lined with black flock and protected by a black sleeve.