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No trees - no bees: no honey - no money
Honeybees collect everything they need for life from plants. In other parts of this website the vital role of pollination is explained together with its clear links with increased crop yields and improved food security. Bees give people such a good deal from their services that it is always a surprise when these benefits to the wider community are not recognised.
Forests worldwide are of priceless ecological value; they prevent soil erosion, control flooding, affect rainfall, store and recycle nutrients, and provide habitats for vast numbers of plant and animal species. Bees are important to forest conservation and protection not just for their vital pollination function, but because bees can collect a crop from the trees without destroying them. People benefit, not just from improved yields and greater biodiversity, but also from the useful and saleable products that can be harvested from beehives. Beekeeping offers even better income generating potential when it can be integrated into a farmers cropping system. For instance farmers may consider growing additional crops that can benefit the household as well as providing a food source for the bees. Sometimes, where live fencing is used, carefully chosen melliferous plants can be included in the fence so that there is food for the bees for as long as possible during the year without any extra land being required. Attention to bee forage to give a long period with flowers providing nectar will help to reduce colony death or the loss of colonies by absconding.
In addition, management of farm areas that includes multipurpose trees may also be a way forward for those not within reach of forest systems. Many multipurpose agroforestry trees are also good nectar or pollen sources, may provide shelter for wild bee colonies or give materials for beehive production as well as providing people with a useful or valuable crop. As well as natural species some important commercial species such as avocado, carambola, cashew, macadamia, coconut, coffee, kiwi, litchi and citrus depend on honeybee pollination. Some fast growing energy crop trees such as eucalyptus also produce copious nectar. As well as adding soil fertility in the form of nitrogen from their root nodules, all acacia species provide nectar; so do some of the oilseed trees such as Jatropha and oil palm while fodder trees such as Calliandra and Leucaena can be useful additions to a diverse agroforestry system. The choices are extensive and will be a constrained by the local environmental conditions so indigenous knowledge and experience is essential in selecting suitable agroforestry species. However, care needs to be taken with the introduction of non native species to ensure they are not damagingly invasive.
There is a wide range of information about which tree species have multipurpose uses. Bees for Development run an occasional series of Trees Bees Use which spotlights specific tree species. If there is an especially useful bee tree in your area please submit an article to tell us about it. We may be able to share your information with many other beekeepers.
List of Articles available on this topic (89):
Title | Author |
A colour guide to pollen loads of the honey bee | Kirk, W |
Addendum to Trees Bees Use - Chromolaena odorata | Latham, P. |
Apiculture in Bangladesh (includes list of 45 bee plants) | Dewan, S.M.A.L. |
Bee Flora of Hindu Kush-Himalayas: Inventory and Management | Partap, U. |
Beekeeping and some Honeybee Plants in Umalila, S.Tanzania | Latham, P. |
Bees and Forest in the Tropics | Beetma, J. |
Bees and Trees | Svensson, B. |
Bees in the miombo | Madeleen Husselman, Moira Moeliono and Fiona Paumgarten |
Bees trees use - Jimson Weed - datura stramonium | Abila, N. |
Boosting cashew production in Ghana | Aidoo, K.S. |
Christ's Thorn - Ziziphus spina-christi | Fichtl, R. |
Cistus laurifolius | Sorkun, K. |
Coffee - Coffea arabica | Fichtl, R. |
Common Names of plants in Bangladesh and West Bengal | |
Common Plants of Bangladesh their use to Bees | Day, R. |
Coral creeper - Antigonon leptopus | Jalaluddin, S.M., Mohan, R., Rajendran, R. & Sadakathulla, S. |
Discovering Herbs | Sanecki, K N |
Dombeya torrida | Latham, P. |
Eucalyptus camaldulensis | Igboanugo, A.B.I. |
Eucalyptus erythriocoris; a source of nectar and pollen for bees in Israel. | Lupo A.; Eisikowitch, D. |
Flowering Plants of Islamabad: a Monthly Guide | Malik, S. |
Flowering Trees | Randhawa, M.S. |
Food and Fruit-bearing Forest Species 1: Examples from Eastern Africa | FAO |
Forestry for Sustainable Rural Development: A Review of Ford Foundation-Supported Community Forestry Programs in Asia | Ford-Foundation |
Forestry, forest users and research: new way of learning | Lawrence,A (ed) |
Garden Plants Valuable to Bees | International Bee Research Association |
Governing Forest Commons in the Congo Basin: Non-Timber Forest Product Value Chains | Ingram, V. |
Guide to some of East Africa\'s Flowering Trees and Shrubs | SHELL |
Guide to some of East Africa\'s Upland Flowers | SHELL |
Gum trees in South Africa | Flottum, K. |
Himalayan Flowers and Trees | Mierow, D. & Shrestha, T.B. |
Honeybee Democracy | Seeley, T.D. |
Host-Plant Selection of Phytophagous Insects | Bernays, E.A. & Chapman, R.F. |
IBRA Appendix Pollens Identified in Honey Samples from Bangladesh | IBRA |
Impact of Honeybee Pollination in Enhancing the Apple Production in Nainital District of Uttarakhand | Sharma, HK; Partap, U;Bisht, K; Tewari, P & Phartiyal, P. |
Improved pollination of insect pollinated crops in Bhutan | |
Intimate relationships between plants and pollinators | Peebles, S. |
Ivy Tree: a Major Nectar Plant in Winter for Apis cerana in South China | Zhao Youhua |
Julbernardia globiflora | Fichtl, R. |
Jungle Honey in Thailand | J\'aime ona Pangaia |
Melaleuca leucadendron | Tan, N.Q. |
Natural antibiotic found in honey | Bradbear, N., Martin, P. & Wainwright, D. |
Planting for Bees in Developing Countries | IBRA |
Plants and Beekeeping: an account of those plants, wild and cultivated, of value to the hive bee, and for honey production in the British Isles | Howes, F.N. |
Plants and Honey Bees: their relationships | Aston, D. & Bucknall, S. |
Plants from the Markets of Thailand | Jacquat, C. |
Pro-Poor Chain Development for High Value Products in Mountain Regions: Indian Bay Leaf | Choudhary, D; Pandit, B; Kinhal, G; Kollmair, M. |
Prominent Findings of Forestry Research in India | Rai, S.N. |
Rainforests: A Guide to Research and Tourist Facilities at Selected Tropical Forest Sites in Central and South America | Castner, J.L. |
Restoration of Apis cerana japonica on the Goto Islands | Hishahi, F. |
Rubber - the honey spinner in Sri Lanka | Dhammearatchi, C. |
Rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis | Padmanabhan, P. |
Soapnut - Sapindus emarginatus | Lakshmi, K. & Rao, G.M. |
Some Trees, Shrubs and Climbers of Bijilo Forest Park | Bijilo Forest Park |
St John\'s Wort Hypericum revolutum | Fichtl, R. |
State of the World\'s Forests | Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations |
Studies on Utilizing Honeybees for Increasing the Fruit Yield and Developing Camellia meiocarpa as a Source of Honey | Chao S. W., Cheng Q. Z., Liu Z. Z., Zhou S. L. |
Syzygium cumini | Leo, R. |
The Bitter Albizia - Albizia amara subspecies sericocephala | Fichtl, R. |
The honey trees of the Cholanaickens | C.S. Saneesh |
The Human Pollinators of Fruit Crops in Maoxian County, Sichuan, China | Partap, U. & Tang Ya |
The Indian butter tree | Joshi, S. & Pechhacker, H. |
The loofah | Murillo-Yepes, J. |
The oil bean tree - Pentaclethra macrophylla | Latham, P. |
The search for nectariferous plants in marginal agricultural regions in Israel. | Eisikowitch, D |
The Tamarind - Tamarindus indica | Fichtl, R. |
Tree bees use - Parkia Biglobosa | Samuel Adelani |
Tree veronia - Vernonia amygdalina | Fichtl, R. |
Trees Bee Use - Bhoca - a bee forage plant | Rehel, S. |
Trees Bees Use - Antigonon leptopus - Coral Creeper | Sadakathulla, S.; Rajendran, R.; Mohan, R. & Jalaluddin, S.M. |
Trees Bees Use - Becium grandiflorum | Haftom Gebremedhn |
Trees Bees Use - Bhoca - a bee forage plant | Rehel, S. |
Trees Bees Use - Caylusea abyssinica | Latham, P. |
Trees Bees Use - Caylusea abyssinica (Resedaceae) | Latham, P. |
Trees bees use - Chromolaena odorata | Adesina, G.O. & Babarinde, S.A. |
Trees Bees Use - Chromolaena odorata | Adesina, G.O. & Babarinde, S.A. |
Trees Bees Use - Datura stramonium - Jimson Weed | Abila, N. |
Trees Bees Use - Fuchsia - a bee forage plant | Duggan, M. |
Trees Bees Use - Fuchsia - A bee forage plant | Duggan, M. |
Trees bees use - Haematoxylum Campechianum | Michael Duggan |
Trees Bees Use - Pithecellobium dulce - Sweet Tamarind | Leo, R. |
Trees Bees Use - Schefflera volkensii | Paul Latham |
Trees bees use - sweet tamarind | Leo, R. |
TREES BEES USE - The logwood tree - Haematoxylum camechianum | Duggan,M. |
Trees bees use - velvet leaf soldier bush - Heliotropium foertherianium | Fichtl, Reinhard |
Warning signals - from the Apple Valleys of the Hindu Kush-himalayas - productivity concerns and pollination problems - abridged edition | Partap, U. & Partap, T. |
Warning signals from the Apple Valleys of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas: Productivity Concerns and Pollination Problems | Partap,U & Partap T |
Wild flowers as competitors for pollinators in almond orchards | Eisikowitch, D.; Lupo, A. |
Zoom in on Jamaica | Bees for Development |