Common buckthorn

Value for beekeeping

Common buckthorn is a thorny shrub growing on calcareous, dry soils, in scrub, hedges and at forest edges. It is dioecious; its small, four-parted, yellowish-green flowers open in clusters on short stalks. Thanks to open nectar discs bees reach the nectar easily; male plants also give pollen.

Flowering

It flowers in May–June for about two to three weeks. Its flowering is shorter than that of alder buckthorn, but together with other hedge plants flowering at the same time it forms a continuous band of forage.

Honey and pollen

No separate honey is produced; its nectar goes into mixed late spring honey. Its nectar and pollen value is moderate.

Note for the beekeeper

The black berries are strongly laxative and harmful to humans; no problem is known for honey. In North America it is controlled as an invasive species spreading into forests; in Europe and Turkey it is a native hedge plant.