Shy Susan and the Bees

This episode of Off Track was first aired in 2013.

Shy Susan could be forgiven for feeling unloved. Her delicate pink flowers are easy to miss and her range is limited to the Beaconsfield area in northern Tasmania.

She's a perennial herb and, in the wild, she's represented by fewer than 250 individual plants. With the help of Tasmania's inconspicuous native bees, she might just be able to hang on.

But the bees are in decline, and her future is by no means assured.

For Off Track, Matthew Crawford visited the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, which hopes to secure Shy Susan.

And he met the insect hunters who have some simple tips that could save both Shy Susan and the bees.