Globe artichoke
The large purple heads of artichoke and cardoon are heavily worked by bees in early summer; plants left to flower give good nectar and pollen.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Good
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 1-2 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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The species Cynara cardunculus includes the globe artichoke grown as a vegetable (var. scolymus), the cardoon, whose leaf stalks are eaten, and the wild artichoke of the Mediterranean. As artichoke heads are harvested before they flower, production fields leave little for bees; plants left to flower, seed plots and wild forms, however, are worked very intensively by bees. Each large head holds hundreds of disc florets and offers plenty of nectar and pollen.
Flowering
Between June and August; a single head stays in flower for 1-2 weeks, and since the heads on a plant open in turn, the total period is longer.
Honey and pollen
Monofloral honey is not common; where it is grown, it is a component of early-summer mixed honey.
Note for the beekeeper
In the artichoke-growing areas of the Aegean and Marmara regions, plants left to flower after harvest give hives extra support in early summer. In seed production, the presence of bees improves seed set; no spraying should be done during flowering.