The European honey bee is an excellent pollinator of non-native plants, many of our favorite foods.

The European honey bee, aka the Western honey bee, aka Apis mellifera, aka our beloved honey bee, evolved with European plants over millennia, so it should not surprise us that it pollinates them so well. Many of our favorite foods we brought from the Old World and also many weeds, often plants we now consider invasives. It makes sense that honey bees pollinate those better than natives. Some of the invasives are important pollen or nectar sources at various times of the year, for example, dandelions, Japanese knotweed, thistles, etc.