None
No nectar at all. These plants are pollen sources — which is protein for brood rather than fuel for flight, and is the half of forage that plant lists routinely omit.
14 records · nectar value
- Common poppyPapaver rhoeasThe clearest case on the site for rating nectar and pollen separately. A single 'bee friendly' score would either overstate the poppy or understate it, and both would be wrong.
- HazelCorylus avellanaThe clearest illustration in the catalogue of why nectar and pollen are rated separately: hazel scores zero for one and top marks for the other, and it matters enormously.
- GorseUlex europaeusZero nectar and top-rated pollen, available in midwinter. Alongside hazel and poppy it is the clearest argument for rating the two separately.
- BroomCytisus scopariusZero nectar and very high pollen — one of the small group of plants including poppy, hazel and gorse that make the case for separate ratings unanswerable.
- 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.
- English oakQuercus roburNo floral nectar and little useful pollen — the catkins are wind-pollinated and their pollen is collected only incidentally. The honeydew is the entire beekeeping interest, and stating that plainly is more useful than calling the tree bee-friendly.
- 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.
- Dog roseRosa caninaNo nectar at all and an outstanding pollen source. This is exactly the distinction that makes rating nectar and pollen separately worthwhile — a single bee-friendliness score would either overstate or dismiss it.
- St John's wortHypericum perforatumNo nectar whatsoever and an outstanding pollen source. A single bee-friendliness score would misrepresent this plant in either direction.
- California poppyEschscholzia californicaNo nectar at all and an outstanding pollen source over a long season.
- Sea buckthornHippophae rhamnoidesA genuinely useful early pollen source in a season when protein is scarce, and not a nectar plant at all. Honey sold as sea buckthorn honey is normally a blossom honey from the surrounding flora, or an infusion of berry juice into honey — both legitimate products, neither a monofloral.
- Holm oakQuercus ilexA pollen source in spring and, in the right years, a substantial honeydew source from midsummer onwards. The two have nothing to do with each other.
Other nectar value groups
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