The species is presumed to be oligolectic on Fabaceae. The pollen loads of two Devon females analysed by S.P.M. Roberts (pers. comm.) consisted of Trifolium repens and probably Vicia sepium pollens (the latter species also being a nectar source). Saunders (2017) states: A narrow range of Fabaceae species dominate foraging visits and pollen samples. Anthyllis vulneraria, Lathyrus sylvestris, Lathyrus pratensis and Trifolium repens. The study found that the bee does use pollen from other plant families but it is suspected this is caused by lack of preferred Fabaceae. In addition to Fabaceae, Saunders notes pollen foraging at Rubus sp. (Rosaceae) (3 observations and in 17% of 2016 pollen). It occurred in samples from 2 sites in Cornwall. This is likely to be because Summer grazing and topping of Lowland point had almost eliminated Legume resources by mid July. Silene (Caryophyllaceae) occured as a major in 2 samples from one site (St. Loy). This site had almost no Legume resources after the Anthyllis had finished in June. This probably was Silene dioica or Silene uniflora. Both were very abundant on all sites."
In Germany, the bee is oligolectic on Fabaceae, forage species including Medicago sativa, Trifolium pratense, Trifolium repens, Lotus corniculatus, Vicia cracca, Vicia sepium, Lathyrus tuberosus, Lathyrus sylvestris (Westrich, 1989).
Monsevičius (1995) lists the following forage sources in Lithuania: Lathyrus sp., Trifolium sp., Astragalus arenarius, Anthyllis sp., Medicago falcata, Coronilla varia, Lotus corniculatus, Vicia spp., Lupinus sp., Onobrychis viciifolia (Fabaceae); Thymus serpyllum (Lamiaceae); Hieracium sp., Hypochoeris radicata (Asteraceae)
Pekkarinen (1998) lists the following genera as pollen sources in Finland: Caragana, Lathyrus, Pisum, Trifolium, Vicia. The principal forage plant being Lathyrus pratensis. (Fabaceae).
Males are occasional pollinators of certain orchids (Orchidaceae). In western Europe, pollination by this sex has been confirmed for Ophrys apifera and O. fuciflora (Kullenberg, Buel & Tkalcu , 1984) (both these orchids also occur in Britain). The males of this bee mistake the opened flowers for females of their own species and, aided by visual and olfactory cues, attempt to couple, the labellum of the flower acting as a copulatory dummy. During this pseudocopulation a pollinium usually becomes attached to the face of the bee (for further details see Kullenberg, Borg-Karlson & Kullenberg, 1984). Vereecken, Risch & Cortis (in prep.) report that the early flowering Ophrys scolopax (Orchidaceae) is pollinated by patrolling males of this species which pseudocopulate with the labellum of the flower .