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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, NOVEMBER 2016
Linda Newstrom-Lloyd (Trees for Bees Botanist) and Angus McPherson (Trees for Bees Farm Planting Adviser) STAR PERFORMERS PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES AND PIPFRUITS TREES FOR BEES CORNER Trees for Bees has produced a new series of fact sheets showcasing the ‘best of the best’ bee plants that will maximise nutrition benefits for your bees. In this issue of the journal, the team introduces the series and explains why pipfruit trees are a ‘star performer’. For more information, see www.treesforbeesnz.org.
Introduction to the Series The ‘Star Performers’ series is designed to show the best of the best in bee plants. Each selected plant group has been investigated in the field by our team and used extensively in our Demo Farms. These plants rank as star performers because they maximise bee nutrition by having any combination of one or more of these six great features: 1. the plant flowers at a time of pollen or nectar dearth (e.g., spring, autumn and even winter) 2. the plant flowers profusely with high density and large quantity of flowers per plant
the flower’. A flower is arranged in concentric circles, with the pistil in the centre surrounded by one or more whorls of stamens bearing pollen, then whorls of petals and then sepals. Any of these parts may be modified or absent as in unisexual flowers. The nectary (where the nectar is produced) can be anywhere—at the base of the pistil or stamens, on the petals, or even outside the flower. The nectary may be an obvious structure or inconspicuous and subtle. It is absent in flowers that produce only pollen and no nectar. The names of the flower parts are illustrated in the figure below.
3. each flower delivers large quantities of pollen or nectar; even though such plants may have few flowers 4. the flowers deliver high quality pollen nutrition (e.g., high crude protein content) 5. the flowers give bees easy access to pollen and nectar for better foraging efficiency 6. the flowers are highly attractive and preferred by bees. We focus on the nature of the flower in relation to the bee’s ease of access to the pollen and/ or nectar, so it is helpful to understand flower structure to see how bees are able to ‘work
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