<P> Nectar is a sugar - rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, which in turn provide antiherbivore protection . Common nectar - consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, and bats . Nectar plays an important role in the foraging economics and overall evolution of nectar - eating species; for example, nectar and its properties are responsible for the differential evolution of the African honey bee, A. m. scutellata and the western honey bee . </P> <P> Nectar is an ecologically important item, the sugar source for honey . It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar . For example, the social wasp species Apoica flavissima relies on nectar as a primary food source . In turn, these wasps then hunt agricultural pest insects as food for their young . For example, thread - waisted wasps (genus Ammophila) are known for hunting caterpillars that are destructive to crops . Caterpillars however, do eventually become butterflies and moths, which are very important pollinators . </P>

Where does nectar come from in a flower