Sesame

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

High

As a honey crop

Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally

Which bees, and why

Sesame is partly self-fertile and yields measurably better with insect pollination. The extrafloral nectaries also attract ants and parasitic wasps, which is thought to buy the plant a standing guard against caterpillars.

Worth knowing

A good nectar and pollen source, and unusual in offering nectar from two different kinds of gland.

Flowering

In flower

July to October (northern hemisphere)

A monsoon and post-monsoon crop in India, with timing varying widely by region.

When nectar flows

Steady, and prolonged by the extrafloral nectaries on the leaf stalks, which keep secreting after the flowers have gone.

Year-to-year variation

Dependable where acreage is large. Rarely separated as a named honey outside India.

What it does to the honey

Contributes a distinct toasted-nut character over a light caramel base — genuinely reminiscent of the seed.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, heat and free-draining soil, with a long frost-free season. It is very drought-tolerant and dislikes waterlogging.

Size

60-150 cm tall.

Native range

Probably sub-Saharan Africa or India. Cultivated across the tropics and subtropics for at least four thousand years.

Suits

Small gardens, Large gardens, Farm scale

• Needs a long hot season; it is a marginal crop in most of northern Europe.
• Harvest before the capsules split — the phrase open sesame refers to exactly this.
• Very drought-tolerant once established, and it resents wet feet.

What it looks like

An upright hairy annual with opposite leaves and tubular white to pale pink foxglove-like flowers in the leaf axils, followed by upright capsules that split open when ripe.