Tea plant
The tea plant of Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast; its October-December flowers give colonies preparing for winter nectar and plenty of pollen.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Good
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 1-2 (budanmış), 10'a kadar m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Tea plant is an evergreen shrub from East Asia; in Turkey it is grown in large plantations in the eastern Black Sea region, especially in and around Rize. Its lightly scented flowers, with white petals and yellow stamens, open in autumn and offer honey bees nectar and plenty of pollen. As few other sources are available at that time, it is valuable for colonies storing pollen before winter.
Flowering
It flowers from October to December. In plantations that are pruned often for the leaf harvest there are fewer flowers; unpruned or lightly pruned edge plants flower more.
Honey and pollen
In China tea flower pollen is collected as a separate product. In Turkey separate tea honey production is not common.
Note for the beekeeper
When autumn flowering coincides with cool, rainy weather, bees can only work it on sunny days. Fertiliser and pesticide use in the plantations should be watched. The nectar of its close relative, the oil camellia (Camellia oleifera), is known to be harmful to honey bee brood; this effect has not been reported for the tea plant.