Mandacaru

Value to bees

Nectar

Moderate

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Feeds the colony but rarely yields a surplus

Which bees, and why

This is a bat-and-moth flower that bees exploit at the margins of its opening, which makes it another clear case of a flower not built for bees at all.

Worth knowing

A minor nectar source and a substantial early-morning pollen one, valuable in a landscape where the dry season leaves very little.

Flowering

In flower

November to February (southern hemisphere)

Rainy-season flowering, with individual flowers lasting a single night.

When nectar flows

Copious per flower and very brief. Bats and moths are the intended pollinators; bees work the flowers in the hour or two of overlap after sunrise.

What it does to the honey

Contributes pollen and a small amount of nectar to the caatinga multifloral and to the stingless bee honeys of the same landscape, rather than yielding a monofloral of its own.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, extreme drought tolerance, sharp drainage and no frost.

Size

3-6 m.

Native range

Northeastern Brazil, characteristic of the caatinga.

Suits

Containers and window boxes

• Grown as a striking container plant in warm climates and as a living fence in the caatinga.
• It is also cut as emergency cattle fodder in drought, which is a large part of its cultural standing.

What it looks like

A branched tree-like cactus to several metres, ribbed and spiny, carrying very large white funnel-shaped flowers that open at dusk and close by mid-morning.