Major honey crop
Plants that fill a super in a good year. Almost all of them are trees or field-scale crops, because a surplus needs flowering volume in one place rather than quality per flower.
90 records · honey crop status
- LavenderLavandula angustifoliaAn unusually good nectar plant relative to its pollen offering. Bees visiting lavender are mostly there for nectar, which is why it supports adult foragers well and contributes less to brood rearing.
- RosemarySalvia rosmarinusThe timing is what makes it exceptional rather than the volume. A high-value plant in March is worth far more to bees than a better plant in July, when everything is flowering.
- ThymeThymusA low aromatic Mediterranean subshrub that produces one of the world's great honeys and, at garden scale, one of the best-value bee plants per square metre of anything you can grow. Thyme flowers densely, tolerates the poorest soil, and can be walked on — creeping thymes planted in gravel or between paving turn dead space into forage.
- White cloverTrifolium repensOne of the very few plants that is both a top-tier nectar source and a substantial pollen source, over a long season, at landscape scale.
- SunflowerHelianthus annuusAn outstanding late-summer pollen source at a point in the season when pollen is becoming scarce, which matters for colonies raising the bees that will overwinter.
- BrambleRubus fruticosusThe combination of a very long season, high nectar value and reliability in variable weather makes bramble the workhorse of northern European summer forage.
- HeatherCalluna vulgarisThe plant that turns British and northern European moorland purple in August, and the source of one of the world's most unusual honeys. Heather flowers at the very end of the northern summer, on acid ground that supports almost nothing else, and its nectar produces a thixotropic honey that behaves like no other. Whole beekeeping traditions in Scotland, northern England and the German heaths exist to catch this one flow.
- Wildflower meadowMixed native floraThe highest combined forage value of anything in this catalogue, because of diversity and duration rather than any single plant's output.
- MānukaLeptospermum scopariumA good nectar source during its brief flowering and of limited use outside it. A landscape of nothing but mānuka is a feast followed by a famine.
- Sweet chestnutCastanea sativaAn exceptional pollen source — the catkins shed enormous quantities — and a good nectar source in the right weather. The pollen arrives at a useful moment for colonies building towards late summer.
- LimeTilia cordataExtraordinary nectar productivity concentrated into a very short window. Its urban prevalence makes it disproportionately important to city beekeeping.
- EucalyptusEucalyptusProlific in both nectar and pollen when flowering, though the pollen of some species is nutritionally poor for honey bees, and colonies confined to a single eucalypt species can suffer over time despite abundant forage.
- SidrZiziphus spina-christiIn much of its range sidr is not merely a good forage plant but effectively the only one at that time of year, which makes it structurally critical rather than simply valuable.
- Ogeechee tupeloNyssa ogecheExceptional nectar in a short window, in a habitat with little competing bloom at that moment. Its value is concentration in time and space rather than volume across a season.
- SourwoodOxydendrum arboreumA serious nectar source with very little pollen to offer, which is a useful illustration of why the two are rated separately: sourwood feeds foragers superbly and contributes almost nothing to brood rearing.
- Oilseed rapeBrassica napusTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, and delivered at exactly the moment colonies are expanding fastest in spring. Its faults are entirely about what comes after.
- BuckwheatFagopyrum esculentumGenuinely useful as a late-summer gap filler, and its speed from sowing to flower makes it one of the few forage plants that can be deployed tactically within a single season.
- AlfalfaMedicago sativaExcellent forage on paper, and the tripping mechanism complicates it in practice: a honey bee robbing nectar from the side of the flower collects no pollen and delivers none.
- Rosebay willowherbChamaenerion angustifoliumA major nectar source at a point in the year when many landscapes have gone quiet, and the mainstay of high-summer beekeeping across boreal North America and Scandinavia.
- SageSalviaVery high nectar and only moderate pollen — sage feeds adult foragers superbly and contributes comparatively little to brood rearing, which is a common pattern in the mint family.
- RaspberryRubus idaeusOne of the highest-yielding nectar plants in temperate horticulture, and good for pollen too. Very few plants combine this productivity with this reliability.
- GoldenrodSolidagoTop-rated for both nectar and pollen, delivered at the moment they matter most. For North American beekeeping this is the most important single genus in the second half of the year.
- SycamoreAcer pseudoplatanusVery high nectar and good pollen, delivered at tree scale in mid-spring, plus a honeydew contribution later. A single mature sycamore is a serious forage asset.
- AsphodelAsphodelus ramosusA major early nectar source in country that offers little else at that season, and rated highly for pollen as well.
- RockroseCistus ladaniferAn outstanding pollen source and a good nectar one, and a plant that also supplies resin for propolis — an unusual triple contribution.
- LemonCitrus limonExcellent nectar over an unusually long and repeated window, and only a moderate pollen contribution.
- Sweet cloverMelilotus officinalisVery high nectar over a long dry-season window, and shallow enough florets that honey bees can work it properly — which alfalfa, growing in the same fields, will not allow.
- VitexVitex negundoVery high nectar in a short window, from a plant that covers whole mountainsides.
- Chinese milk vetchAstragalus sinicusVery high nectar delivered at vast scale in early spring, and the anchor of migratory beekeeping across southern China.
- JujubeZiziphus jujubaA very high nectar source in arid and semi-arid country where the alternatives are few, which makes it structurally important as well as productive.
- BanksiaBanksiaTop nectar production in the catalogue for sheer volume per flower head, delivered in the Australian cool season when little else is open.
- ThistleGalactites tomentosaAmong the most productive nectar plants in Mediterranean grassland, and one of the few that supports butterflies and bees equally well.
- Purple loosestrifeLythrum salicariaAmong the top nectar producers in the European flora, delivered over a long late-summer window on ground that offers little else.
- Black locustRobinia pseudoacaciaAn exceptional nectar source for a very short period. Pollen is useful but secondary — this is a nectar tree above all.
- SainfoinOnobrychis viciifoliaAn outstanding forage plant on both counts, and one of the few that performs in a dry summer when white clover has stopped.
- Tulip treeLiriodendron tulipiferaA heavy nectar source and a moderate pollen source, concentrated in a narrow late-spring window.
- MesquiteProsopisA principal desert forage plant, providing both nectar and pollen in landscapes with very few alternatives.
- Black sageSalvia melliferaAn outstanding nectar source in a good year, and the backbone of the chaparral forage sequence.
- Sweet orangeCitrus sinensisA heavy nectar source over a substantial period, and moderate for pollen.
- AvocadoPersea americanaA heavy nectar and pollen source, and one the bees are notably unenthusiastic about relative to what else is on offer.
- MacadamiaMacadamia integrifoliaA good nectar and pollen source over a defined spring window.
- CottonGossypium hirsutumA prolonged nectar source from two distinct kinds of gland, plus abundant pollen.
- KanukaKunzea ericoidesAn excellent nectar and pollen source across the New Zealand summer.
- RewarewaKnightia excelsaA heavy nectar source in native forest, and an important one for the New Zealand forest bird community as well as for bees.
- PohutukawaMetrosideros excelsaA heavy summer nectar and pollen source on coasts with few alternatives.
- JarrahEucalyptus marginataA major nectar and pollen source in years when it flowers heavily.
- LeatherwoodEucryphia lucidaThe principal summer nectar source of the Tasmanian rainforest, and the basis of most of the island's honey production.
- Silver firAbies albaNo floral nectar and negligible pollen. Its entire forage value is honeydew, which is why nectar and pollen are rated separately in this catalogue — a single bee-friendliness score would make this tree look worthless.
- Norway sprucePicea abiesNo floral nectar. Honeydew is the whole of its value, and it can be very substantial.
- Scots pinePinus sylvestrisNo floral nectar, moderate wind-borne pollen that bees will collect, and honeydew in very large quantities where the scale insect is established.
- Yellow starthistleCentaurea solstitialisAn outstanding summer nectar source in a season when Californian forage is otherwise very thin.
- GallberryIlex glabraAn excellent late-spring nectar source across the southeastern coastal plain.
- Saw palmettoSerenoa repensA heavy spring nectar and pollen source across a very large area.
- Cabbage palmSabal palmettoA good summer nectar and pollen source, and a useful bridge across the southeastern dearth.
- Himalayan balsamImpatiens glanduliferaOutstanding on both counts, at a time of year when little else offers anything. This is the whole difficulty.
- Japanese knotweedReynoutria japonicaAn excellent late nectar source, and moderate for pollen.
- Bell heatherErica cinereaA good nectar source and moderate for pollen, over a long summer season on ground with few alternatives.
- Black mangroveAvicennia germinansA good summer nectar source in a coastal landscape with few alternatives.
- Brazilian pepperSchinus terebinthifoliaA good autumn nectar source at a point in the Florida year when colonies would otherwise be consuming stores.
- Chinese tallowTriadica sebiferaAn excellent nectar and pollen source, and the mainstay of Gulf coast beekeeping.
- LogwoodHaematoxylum campechianumAn excellent dry-season nectar source across the Caribbean.
- MarmeleiroCrotonA good nectar and pollen source in a semi-arid landscape with limited alternatives.
- Prickly boxBursaria spinosaAn excellent summer nectar and pollen source, and among the most heavily visited plants in southeastern Australia.
- Southern beechFuscosporaNo floral nectar and negligible pollen. The honeydew is the whole of its value, and it is enormous — which is exactly why nectar and pollen are rated separately in this catalogue.
- SheaVitellaria paradoxaA good dry-season nectar and pollen source across the West African savannah.
- Resin spurgeEuphorbia resiniferaA good spring nectar source on ground that offers very little else.
- ArganArgania spinosaA good spring nectar source in a semi-arid landscape with few alternatives.
- MopaneColophospermum mopaneModest floral nectar and a substantial honeydew resource, which is the reason the woodland supports beekeeping at all.
- Bitter aloeAloe feroxAn excellent winter nectar and pollen source in a landscape with few alternatives at that season.
- CashewAnacardium occidentaleA good dry-season nectar and pollen source across the tropics.
- MahuaMadhuca longifoliaAn excellent spring nectar source at the hottest and driest point of the central Indian year.
- NeemAzadirachta indicaA good dry-season nectar source across the Indian subcontinent.
- MangoMangifera indicaA good dry-season nectar and pollen source across the tropics.
- Winter savorySatureja montanaAn outstanding nectar source for its size, and one of the best small aromatic herbs for bees.
- Tree of heavenAilanthus altissimaA heavy urban and post-industrial nectar source, and an uncomfortable one: the same qualities that make it valuable to bees make it a landscape problem.
- BabulVachellia niloticaOne of the major honey crops of northwestern India and Pakistan, and a substantial source across the Sahel.
- Talh acaciaVachellia seyalA major dry-season source across the Sahel and Arabia, and the backbone of migratory beekeeping in Sudan.
- LycheeLitchi chinensisOne of the most valuable subtropical orchard flows there is, and a crop whose yield rises measurably where colonies are present.
- MangiumAcacia mangiumA substantial plantation flow across Southeast Asia, produced by a mechanism most beekeeping literature does not cover — extrafloral nectar, secreted by the leaf rather than the flower.
- NiaouliMelaleuca quinquenerviaA heavy and reliable flow wherever it grows, which is a substantial part of why it is tolerated in places that would otherwise remove it.
- Sweet thornVachellia karrooA major southern African honey crop and, in many districts, the single most important source there is.
- Niger seedGuizotia abyssinicaA principal Ethiopian honey source and the reason the country's autumn crop is as large as it is, alongside the white honeys of the highland forests.
- BushwillowCombretum speciesA major and under-documented African honey source, second only to the acacias across much of the savannah belt.
- Spanish needleBidens albaAmong the most important sources in Florida beekeeping, and the one that carries colonies between the citrus, palmetto and gallberry flows.
- TepezcohuiteMimosa tenuifloraA major dry-season source in Chiapas and in the Brazilian caatinga, and one that increases rather than decreases with land clearance — which is an uncomfortable thing to be able to say about a honey plant.
- AngicoAnadenanthera colubrinaA principal source of the caatinga honey that northeastern Brazil exports in quantity, much of it organic-certified.
- StringybarkEucalyptus macrorhyncha and related speciesOne of the mainstays of Australian commercial honey production, valued for both a heavy nectar flow and good pollen.
- PaperbarkMelaleuca speciesA reliable coastal and wetland flow across eastern Australia, and valuable partly because it occupies ground the drier eucalypts do not.
- Yellow gumEucalyptus leucoxylonAmong the most valuable winter forage trees in southern Australia, and widely planted in shelterbelts and street plantings for that reason.
- Swamp mahoganyEucalyptus robustaA keystone winter nectar source for the whole east coast fauna, and a substantial commercial honey flow alongside that.
Other honey crop status groups
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