Field nigella
An annual of field margins with pale blue summer flowers; honey bees make good use of the nectar hidden in its special lidded nectaries.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 0.1-0.4 m
- Life cycle
- Annual
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Field nigella is an annual of the buttercup family growing on the edges of cereal fields, on fallow land and on dry grassland. The showy pale blue parts are sepals; the true petals have turned into small, lidded nectar pouches. Honey bees learn to lift these lids to reach the nectar and visit the flower regularly.
Flowering
It flowers from June to August and keeps flowering on stubble after harvest, helping during the summer dearth.
Honey and pollen
No monofloral honey is known; its nectar ends up in mixed summer honey. Pollen is also collected.
Note for the beekeeper
It has declined in many areas because of heavy herbicide use. Its relative black cumin (Nigella sativa), by contrast, is a cultivated plant that bees work in the same way and a good nectar plant; sowing it around the apiary can be recommended. It should not be confused with black cumin, whose seeds are used as a spice.