Summary ⁴

Pollen: High 24% Crude Protein
Nectar: High average Average 30 kg/hive (66.14 lbs)

Flowering during the autumn, this species provides an abundance of pollen for brood rearing. It gives a bud prospect about fifteen months in advance, and flowering usually occurs every second or third season. Inn favourable weather conditions a surplus of amber-coloured, fairly dence honey of average flavour may be obtained....Buds appear summer and last a year before flowering occurs. Nectar and pollen every 2-4 years; Apple Box is an important honey tree, particularly on the Southern Tablelands. In favourable seasons satisfactory honey surpluses are harvested, and during some of the poorer seasons sufficient may be obtained for winter stores. The honey is amber, of medium density and reasonable flavour, and granulates readily. Large quanities of pollen are produced and gathered by honey bees when conditions are favourable. (Clemson, A. 1983)

Flowering time 11-4, 1-2 S. Africa. Planted in colder and drier parts of S. Africa as shelterbelts and farm woodlots. Commercial plantations were never established. A box type bark that tends to be long-fibred and ridged. Juvenile leaves are heart-shaped. Inflorescence with seven flower buds on short stalks. Each fruit has three well-developed, exserted valves or teeth. Buds are carried for one year or less. Occasional satisfactory honey surpluses in Australia, where the pollen crude protein was found to be 24%....Widespread, medium to large tree, fund mainly on alluvial flats and sometimes on slopes and hillsides. Tiber pale brown, soft and brittle, used mainly for fuel. Good shade and shelter tree. Flowers February to April yielding both pollen nectar. (Johannsmeier, M. F. (2016). Beeplants of South Africa: Sources of Nectar, Pollen, Honeydew and Propolis for Honeybees)

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Eucalyptus_bridgesiana_%285369783894%29.jpg
2. Matilda, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Applebox.JPG
3. (c) Krzysztof Golik, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eucalyptus_bridgesiana.jpg
4. (c) Megan W., some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• EUCLID
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online

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