HoneyHQ

Neem

Azadirachta indicaMeliaceaeTree

One of the most culturally significant trees of the Indian subcontinent, planted everywhere for shade and used for everything from toothbrush twigs to insecticide. It flowers heavily in the dry season, and its honey carries a genuine bitterness that reflects the plant rather than any marketing claim.

Caution

Neem seed extracts are insecticidal and neem oil should be kept away from beehives and applied only when bees are not flying. The nectar is unaffected, but concentrated seed extract sprayed onto flowering plants is not a neutral substance.

Value to bees

Nectar
High
Pollen
Moderate
As a honey crop
Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years
Which bees, and why
Worked by all four Asian honey bee species. Neem's insecticidal compounds are concentrated in the seed and leaf rather than the nectar, and there is no evidence that working the tree harms colonies.
Worth knowing
A good dry-season nectar source across the Indian subcontinent.

Flowering

In flower
March to May (northern hemisphere)

A pre-monsoon flow in the Indian dry season.

When nectar flows
Generous from a mature tree, with abundant strongly scented flowers.
Year-to-year variation
Reliable, and produced across a very wide area.

What it does to the honey

Contributes a pronounced bitterness with a herbal medicinal character over a restrained sweetness.

Growing it

Conditions
Full sun in hot dry conditions on almost any free-draining soil. It is very drought-tolerant and frost-tender.
Size
15-20 m tall with a dense spreading crown.
Native range
The Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. Planted extensively across dry tropical Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas.
Suits
Large gardens
  • Grows fast and provides dense shade, which is why it is planted along Indian roads and in courtyards everywhere.
  • Frost-tender; grown as a container plant in temperate climates.
  • Neem oil from the seed is a widely used insecticide, and the leaf has extensive traditional use.

What it looks like

A fast-growing evergreen tree with pinnate leaves of curved serrated leaflets and loose panicles of small honey-scented white flowers, followed by olive-like fruits.

Sources

  • HoneyHQ editorial synthesis — HEKNO Ltd · HoneyHQ synthesis
  • The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting — Routledge (1999) · Historical text

How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.

Tools for planning planting

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