Oligolectic: Asteraceae (eg Centaurea - more than 98% of pollen grains examined from nests were of this type)(Rust et al., 2004).
Banaszak & Romasenko (1998) list the following forage sources: Carduus, Cirsium, Centaurea and Onopordon (Asteraceae).
Rust et al. (2004) list the following a plant species as probable nectar sources (based on small quantities of pollen found in nest cells):Onobrychis, Lotus, Ulex (Fabaceae); Echium, Heliotropium (Boraginaceae); Cistus (Cistaceae); Convolvulus (Convolvulaceae); Ligustrum (Oleaceae); Campanula (Campanulaceae); Aesculus (Hippocastanaceae); and unidentified members of the following families: Papaveraceae, Rosaceae, Apiaceae, Malvaceae, Brassicaceae.
Straka et al. (2004) report the species foraging at flowers of Cichorium intybus (Asteraceae)
Matache & Ban (2006) state that the species is oligolectic on Asteraceae.
Bogusch et al. (2007) state that the first specimen reported from The Czech Republic was caught at flowers of Cirsium sp. (Asteraceae).
Stanisavljević (2000) states that this is an oligolectic species, most often found on the flowers of species from the family Asteraceae in Serbia (Carduus, Cirsium, Centaurea, Onopordon).
Grace (2010) lists the following flowers as forage sources: Centaurea solstitialis, Onopordum, Carduus, Cirsium, Centaurea (Asteraceae) and Trifolium (Fabaceae). Mavromoustakis (1954) lists foraging at Centaurea hyalolepis (Asteraceae) in Cyprus
Mavromoustakis (1948; 1952) recorded this bee visiting Centaurea hyalolepis, Carthamus creticus, Centaurea cilicica (Asteraceae); Chrozophora verbascifolia (Euphorbiaceae)
Further records are of vists to Medicago sativa (Fabaceae) and Centaurea iberica meryonis (Asteraceae).
All the species of Lithurgus reported from eastern Turkey are recorded at Centaurea, Carduus, Cirsium, Onopordum and Arctium. (Asteraceae) (Ozbek and Zanden 1994) note that L. chrysurus and L. cornutus also visit Onobrychis (Fabaceae).