Goat's rue
A perennial legume of damp ground with lilac-white racemes; a good summer nectar plant, though the foliage is toxic to livestock.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.5-1.5 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Goat's rue is an erect legume that forms clumps along streams, in damp meadows and along ditches. Its lilac, bluish or white pea flowers open in long racemes and secrete nectar that honey bees can reach easily. Its greatest advantage is that on moist soils it keeps secreting even during summer drought. Pollen is collected too.
Flowering
It stays in flower for 6-8 weeks from June to August, partly bridging the summer dearth after the linden flow.
Honey and pollen
It is not known as a separate monofloral honey; it contributes to summer multifloral honeys. The related fodder galega (Galega orientalis) is sown in Russia and the Baltic states as a forage and honey plant.
Note for the beekeeper
The plant contains galegine and can cause fatal poisoning in livestock, sheep above all, so it should not be sown along pasture edges. No harm is known in honey or pollen. It has been declared invasive in the USA and Chile.