Polylectic: mainly visiting Fabaceae. British pollen sources for first brood females are not known, but those of the second brood forage from Calluna (Ericaceae)(R.C.L. Perkins, 1919g), Trifolium repens, T. pratense (Fabaceae) and possibly Senecio jacobaea (Asteraceae)(Chambers, 1968). Spring brood specimens visit Ulex, Anthyllis vulneraria, Lotus corniculatus (Fabaceae); Prunus spinosa, Pyrus (Rosaceae); Salix (Salicaceae); Veronica chamaedrys (Scrophulariaceae); Glechoma hederacea (Lamiaceae); and Taraxacum (Asteraceae) whereas those of the summer one fly to Ulex gallii, Ononis (Fabaceae); Rubus (Rosaceae); Erica cinerea (Ericaceae); Armeria (Plumbaginaceae); Thymus (Lamiaceae) and Jasione montana (Campanulaceae). It is not known which of these plant records for the two broods are also pollen sources.
In Germany the species gathers pollen from the plant families Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Brassicaceae (Westrich, 1989). Kocourek (1966) reports that in Czechoslovakia this species is an important pollinator of cultivated clovers and lucerne (Fabaceae).
Radchenko (2015), citing others, states it is polylectic, but with a strong preference for flowers of Fabaceae in all parts of its range. However many specialists consider this species as oligolectic, i.e., it prefers to forage upon a narrow range of flowering plant species, specifically on leguminous plants (Stöckhert 1933, Pittioni and Schmidt 1943, Ponomareva 1960, Kocourek 1966, Warncke 1966a, Popov 1967a, Pesenko 1972, Osytshnjuk 1977, Westrich 1989, Radchenko and Pesenko 1994). In reality, females also collect pollen from the flowers of other different plants, including species of the following families: Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Brassicaceae, Ranunculaceae, Lamiaceae, Boraginaceae and Plantaginaceae.