Persian silk tree
An ornamental tree with silky pink flowers through summer, giving bees moderate nectar and little pollen. A small but useful urban source in the July-August dearth.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Low
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 6-12 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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The Persian silk tree is a legume ranging from northern Iran and the Caucasus to East Asia, and is widely planted in Turkey as a park, garden and street tree. The showy part of the flowers is the long pink stamens; nectar collects in a short tube at the base of the flower. Besides butterflies and bumblebees, honeybees visit too.
Flowering
It flowers bit by bit over a long period, from late June into August. This continuity helps urban bees in mid-summer, when flowers become scarce in the countryside.
Honey and pollen
It does not yield a separate honey. The pollen grains are held together in clusters and it is not regarded as an important pollen source for bees.
Note for the beekeeper
It tolerates drought and urban conditions, though young trees can be killed by frost in harsh winters. It is known to have naturalised and spread in the southern United States; no such problem has been reported in Turkey. If you plant it around the apiary, think of it as a complement among your summer sources.