Chinese tallow

Value to bees

Nectar

Very high

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked intensively during the flow. The flower spikes carry both male and female flowers and are highly accessible, which makes them useful to a wide range of insects.

Worth knowing

An excellent nectar and pollen source, and the mainstay of Gulf coast beekeeping.

Flowering

In flower

April to June (northern hemisphere)

A late spring flow, and one of the largest crops of the Gulf coast year.

When nectar flows

Heavy. Where tallow dominates coastal prairie, the flow supports a substantial share of Louisiana and Texas honey production.

Year-to-year variation

Reliable and abundant, and increasing as the tree spreads.

What it does to the honey

Contributes a mild floral sweetness with a faint waxy note, and it sets quickly to a fine grain.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun to part shade on almost any soil, tolerant of flooding, drought and salt.

Size

10-15 m tall, and reproductive within three years of germination.

Native range

China and Japan. Introduced to the southern United States in the eighteenth century and now invasive across the Gulf coast.

Suits

Farm scale

What it looks like

A fast-growing tree with distinctive heart-shaped leaves on long stalks that turn brilliant red in autumn, drooping yellow-green flower spikes in spring, and clusters of white waxy seeds that gave it the popcorn tree name.