Common stork's-bill
Small pink-flowered weed of field edges, pastures and gardens blooming from spring to autumn; useful nectar and pollen, especially early.
- Nectar
- Medium
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.1-0.4 m
- Life cycle
- Annual
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Common stork's-bill is an annual or biennial herb that spreads over the ground as a rosette on field edges and roadsides, in pastures, between vines and in orchards, and on sandy and disturbed soils. It has now spread to almost every continent. Small pink-lilac flowers, about 1 cm across, open in umbels of 2–10 flowers on long stalks. The nectar glands at the base offer honey bees a small but steady supply of nectar; pollen is also collected.
Flowering
It flowers from March to October; its real value is that it is in flower on the first warm days of spring, when there are very few sources. In mild regions scattered flowers can be seen in winter too. The flowers open in the morning and drop their petals in the afternoon.
Honey and pollen
It has no honey of its own; it contributes to mixed early-spring honeys.
Note for the beekeeper
Its Turkish name refers to the way the ripening fruits coil like a corkscrew with moisture and drill the seed into the soil. In western North America it is an established alien species and is regarded as an early source by beekeepers there as well.