Red horse-chestnut
A park tree bred from common and red buckeye horse-chestnuts; its pink-red candles in May offer nectar and pollen to honeybees and bumblebees.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 10-20 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
🐝 Add to my apiary
Log in to add it to your apiary.Value for beekeeping
The red horse-chestnut is a hybrid of the common horse-chestnut and a red-flowered North American species, and is planted as a park and street tree in Europe and Turkey. Its flowers give nectar and pollen; besides honeybees, long-tongued bumblebees are frequent visitors. Its yield is usually lower than that of the common horse-chestnut.
Flowering
It flowers for about two weeks in May, at the same time as the common horse-chestnut or slightly later, with upright pink-red candles. The petal blotches turn from yellow to red after pollination; bees mostly visit the fresh flowers.
Honey and pollen
It does not yield a separate honey; its contribution goes into late spring mixed honey.
Note for the beekeeper
Horse-chestnut seeds are poisonous to people and animals, but there is no known record of toxicity for the nectar or honey of this hybrid. Some beekeepers mention brood problems during the horse-chestnut period, but scientific evidence on this is limited.