Oriental virgin's bower
A climber scrambling over shrubs in dry valleys and riverbeds, with nodding yellow flowers in late summer; it gives bees mainly pollen and little nectar.
- Nectar
- Low
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 2-6 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Oriental virgin's bower is a woody climber that scrambles over shrubs in dry valleys, stream beds and hedgerows from eastern and south-eastern Anatolia to the Caucasus, Iran and Central Asia. Its bell-shaped flowers with thick yellow or greenish-yellow sepals hang downwards. Carrying many anthers, the flowers give bees mainly pollen; the amount of nectar is small.
Flowering
It flowers for a long time from July to September. Because flowering coincides with the late-summer dearth, it helps meet the colony's pollen needs in dry regions. The flowers are followed by feathery, silvery seed heads.
Honey and pollen
It does not produce a nectar flow; its value lies in being a late-summer pollen source.
Note for the beekeeper
The fresh leaves and stems of clematis are irritant and harmful to livestock, but no problems with bee products have been reported. In western North America it has escaped from gardens and become invasive.