Asparagus
A perennial vegetable with separate male and female plants; its small bell flowers, opening after harvest, give bees moderate nectar and pollen.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 1-1,5 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Asparagus is dioecious: male and female flowers are on separate plants, and pollen must be carried by insects for seed production. Once the harvest is over and the shoots are allowed to grow, small greenish-yellow bell flowers open, scattered along the fine branches. Both sexes give nectar; male plants also provide pollen.
Flowering
It flowers from May to July; the flowers are small and inconspicuous, but because they keep renewing, visits go on for weeks. The red berries form on female plants.
Honey and pollen
It is not common as a single-flower honey; in large production areas it contributes to early-summer honeys. No reliable record of the pollen colour was found.
Note for the beekeeper
Asparagus fields do not flower during the harvest period; their value for bees comes after the harvest. In Turkey its wild relatives (such as Asparagus acutifolius) are also visited by bees.