Snowdrop honey plant in early spring
In spring, snowdrops delight us all with their appearance, but few people know that snowdrops are not only the first flowers of spring, but also the snowdrop honey plant is one of the first to give pollen and nectar to bees. Snowdrop as a honey plant is also valuable as scilla, crocus, almond, Adonis Amur, spring grass, Nakai goose onion, yellow goose onion, and hill violet.
Description of honey plant snowdrop
The honey plant snowdrop is a perennial bulbous plant with a short growing season. The growing season of snowdrops depends on latitude and altitude. Snowdrop bulb with a diameter of 2-3 cm. Snowdrop leaves are linear or oblong-lanceolate in shape. Snowdrop leaves appear simultaneously with the buds and during flowering are equal to or significantly shorter than the peduncle, 10-20 cm long and 0.5-3 cm wide. The color of the leaves is from light green to dark green.
The peduncle of the snowdrop is cylindrical, shiny or gray, the same length as the bract, shorter or longer than it. The perianth consists of six leaflets: the outer three are pure white, 15-30 mm long. Snowdrop anthers are on very short filaments, sitting at the base of the perianth lobes, widened downward, strongly drawn upward, usually ending in a pointed point.
Snowdrop is common in Central and Southern Europe, on the Black Sea coast, and in Asia Minor, in the Caucasus.
How the honey plant snowdrop blooms
Beekeepers have many myths and questions about snowdrops as a honey plant. Many myths about snowdrops as a honey plant arise because snowdrops are also called anemones, blueberries and a number of other herbs that bloom in early spring, so for many snowdrops are a collective name.
Many beekeepers have a question: is a snowdrop a honey plant or a peduncle? Snowdrop is a good honey plant; snowdrops provide nectar and pollen to bees before other plants.
Snowdrops bloom very early; depending on the region and species, snowdrops bloom from January to April, when there are no other flowering honey plants in nature.
Some people believe that the snowdrop is a pollen-bearer, but not a honey-bearer; in fact, bees collect a lot of nectar from flowers, which is secreted at the base of the flower.
Do bees influence snowdrop reproduction in spring? Snowdrop is the first spring flower; it can survive in extreme conditions: snowfalls, cold snaps, rains. Under unfavorable conditions, the snowdrop closes the flower and droops. But at + 7°C, the flower comes to life again, and the three outer petals diverge, freeing the three inner ones to open with a green spot, indicating to insects where the sweet nectar is located. The flower can wait for pollinators for a week or two, but if during this time they do not visit it, the flower will self-pollinate.
Snowdrops are sensitive to temperature changes; they then open fully when insects can fly in (at temperatures above 10 C.).
Beekeepers also have a question: does the snowdrop produce pollen? During the first period of flowering, snowdrops abundantly provide bees with pollen, and only in the final period of flowering do they supply them with nectar. So the snowdrop is a pollen-bearer; bees collect dark blue pollen from the snowdrop.