Inflorescence

Definition

The arrangement matters to bees as much as the individual flower does. An umbel or a composite head gives a bee dozens of florets within a short walk, which is why hogweed and knapweed are so heavily worked. A spire opening progressively from the base extends the useful period over weeks.

Honey records that discuss this

• Coconut blossom honeyLight, clean and mildly waxy with a faint nuttiness. It tastes nothing like coconut, which surprises almost everyone.

Plant records that discuss this

• Coconut palmThe most reliable background forage across much of the coastal tropics, precisely because it never stops. Coastal apiaries frequently rest on it between the seasonal flows.
• PaperbarkA reliable coastal and wetland flow across eastern Australia, and valuable partly because it occupies ground the drier eucalypts do not.